MissIvoryB
In the Brooder
A little background on my flock, since this is my first post. I have two 4-year old hens I adopted - a buff orpington and an ameraucana. (I'm guessing anyway. She lays blue-green eggs.) Then I got 7 more chicks in May that are about 12 weeks old - another buff orpinton, 3 black australorps, and 3 Rhode Island reds. Everyone has integrated flawlessly into one happy flock.
They have free range of my fenced-in backyard and seem to get the majority of their food from foraging. It takes a couple days for the food I put out to need refilled, and I think the neighborhood bird population helps out a lot. They get scratch every day too, oyster shell, and a sprinkle of meal worms or a melon rind every few days for a treat.
Before the chicks came, the old hens laid like champs. I got a blue egg every day and a brown egg every 2 out of 3 days. BUT, when I moved the new birds outside, the older birds started eating all of their medicated starter food, and the chicks had to eat the layer food that was left over. I didn't want medicated eggs, and I didn't want my chicks to be getting too much or too little of whatever nutrients was in the layer food. I read that you could feed the whole flock grower food so long as the big birds still had their oyster shell. So, there were 3 kinds of food at Rural King: chick starter, layer food, and meat bird food. I incorrectly assumed by the process of elimination that meat bird food had to be "grower food." So now, no one is medicated, but egg laying has tapered off to nothing. There hasn't been an egg in the box for over a week. Everyone seems happy and healthy, and neither of the older birds have an egg stuck in the chute. They're just not laying.
I don't mind not getting my measly 2 eggs a day. I'll be able to put everyone on layer food in another month or so. But, is it okay to keep feeding them the meat bird food? Are the new birds developing ok on it? Will the older birds be able to go back to laying?
Thank you!
They have free range of my fenced-in backyard and seem to get the majority of their food from foraging. It takes a couple days for the food I put out to need refilled, and I think the neighborhood bird population helps out a lot. They get scratch every day too, oyster shell, and a sprinkle of meal worms or a melon rind every few days for a treat.
Before the chicks came, the old hens laid like champs. I got a blue egg every day and a brown egg every 2 out of 3 days. BUT, when I moved the new birds outside, the older birds started eating all of their medicated starter food, and the chicks had to eat the layer food that was left over. I didn't want medicated eggs, and I didn't want my chicks to be getting too much or too little of whatever nutrients was in the layer food. I read that you could feed the whole flock grower food so long as the big birds still had their oyster shell. So, there were 3 kinds of food at Rural King: chick starter, layer food, and meat bird food. I incorrectly assumed by the process of elimination that meat bird food had to be "grower food." So now, no one is medicated, but egg laying has tapered off to nothing. There hasn't been an egg in the box for over a week. Everyone seems happy and healthy, and neither of the older birds have an egg stuck in the chute. They're just not laying.
I don't mind not getting my measly 2 eggs a day. I'll be able to put everyone on layer food in another month or so. But, is it okay to keep feeding them the meat bird food? Are the new birds developing ok on it? Will the older birds be able to go back to laying?
Thank you!