The best diet !

[asooomaa]

Hi all
My girls are now 17 weeks old, no eggs, what is the best food ( diet )for them in this stage ?
layers ?? or pellets ?? i don't know.

please list the percentage of the main materials ( protein, calcium, vitamins .... ) that should be in the diet ..

thanx, any help will be appreciated ,, hey i'm from Switzerland, sorry if there are mistakes in my English ..

 

[pixie74943]

What breeds have you got? Because 17weeks is around the earliest that most breeds will lay. Although banties and other fancy/heritage breeds can take alot longer.

Easiest way to feed them, constant supply of Layer Pellets (most places will sell something that says 'layer pellets' on the bag. Also, leave out a tray of a calcium supplement, most people say oyster shell, the place I shop at sold me shell grit, which was lots of tiny sea shells.

Most birds, fed this as a basic diet, will lay well and you dont have to think to much about what your doing. Other people will have better ideas about protein percentages and such, but as far as I'm concerned, simpler is better. If you want to go really simple, just supply layer pellets, dont even worry about the calcium supplements.

 

[asooomaa]

but the question is if i bought a bag of food for them, what is the approbriate percentages
for every material ( protein, calcium, vitamins, and other minerals ...) which are posted on
the bag as a nutrition facts .

 

[pixie74943]

Googled...

"Adult layer rations. After the hens reach the age of 22 weeks or begin laying, and throughout their laying careers, they need a protein level of 16 to 18 percent. The calcium and minerals should be formulated for laying hens." (I started early, 18weeks is what I was told, and all mine were laying by then)

As I said, you can offer extra calcium through oyster shell/some other kind of supplement

 

[asooomaa]

ok thanx, now i feed them a mixture of wheat, barley, corn and some minerals and vitamins ,
is this seems good ??

 

[pixie74943]

I dont know

I stick to commercial feeds because I doubt I'd be able to tell if they were missing anything important until it was too late.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Ditto.

 

[cybercat]

Asoooma are you free ranging? I assume yes because of you being in Switzerland. Most feed a comerical feed as it is easiest for them. For those that make their own mix their are recipes here and on the net. You might want to do a search. Because of your location things will be a bit different than here in the USA. Products will not be the same or called the same. Sounds to me like you might have a good based but will need to add some to it. Sunflower seed, oats, maybe field peas and any greens you can feed. None of your first three grains has a very high protien so adding some kind of meat protien or soy would help alot. Again do some reading on the net about making your own chicken feed.