Transitioning from starter feed

[curlyp]

I have a feeling she is laying the eggs. She looks more developed.

 

[NatJ]

Is it okay to eat the eggs from chick feed? I thought they needed to more to adult feed in order to get the nutrients for the eggs.

The only special thing in layer feed is the calcium. For all the other nutrients, chick starter is fine for their entire lives.

Hens can get their calcium from a separate dish of oyster shell, or they can have it included in the feed (layer feed), or they can have layer feed and a dish of oyster shell. Any of those methods tends to work fine.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

You can keep feeding chick feed, but use the un medicated stuff and provide oyster shell on the side. Of feed flock raiser.

I kept my 6 gals on chick starter until they were about a year old. My thinking after lots of BYC research was the protein. At 18% i feel it helped with the cold new england winters. I switched to 16% egg layer feed this spring. They were 10 months old. They free range and get tons of bugs for supplemental protein.

 

[TX Chick Noob]

I have a feeling she is laying the eggs. She looks more developed. View attachment 3133225

I have a feeling "she" will never lay eggs. I am far from an expert but that looks like a cockerel to me.

 

[Missyschix13]

I have a feeling "she" will never lay eggs. I am far from an expert but that looks like a cockerel to me.

Yes I agree "she" looks like a cockerel! This is my "she" that turned out to be a cockerel. The black Australorp in the front.

 

[Missyschix13]

I kept my 6 gals on chick starter until they were about a year old. My thinking after lots of BYC research was the protein. At 18% i feel it helped with the cold new england winters. I switched to 16% egg layer feed this spring. They were 10 months old. They free range and get tons of bugs for supplemental protein.

I know this is an old post. So if my girls and guy are in a run and scratch in the sand do they need grit? And if they do, can I mix it in with the oyster shell? Or would it need to be separate. Either is fine. I just need to pick up another base for my mason jar.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Recommend keeping it seperate, your grit and oyster shell.
How much grit they need? Depends. Sand doesn't really do the trick for them, they benefit from something a little larger, that lasts a bit longer.

 

[Missyschix13]

Recommend keeping it seperate, your grit and oyster shell.
How much grit they need? Depends. Sand doesn't really do the trick for them, they benefit from something a little larger, that lasts a bit longer.

Eggcellent! Lol I'll pick up another base and we are good to go! Thanks for the reply!

 

[Quadzilla32]

If you have your chickens on a 16% layer feed do they still need oyster and grit and if so how much and how often do you give them some? If i bump up to higher protein it seems i need to supplement oyster shell and grit but layer feed has mixed in calcium?....

 

[NatJ]

If you have your chickens on a 16% layer feed do they still need oyster and grit and if so how much and how often do you give them some? If i bump up to higher protein it seems i need to supplement oyster shell and grit but layer feed has mixed in calcium?....

You probably do not NEED to provide oyster shell or grit in that case, if layer feed is the only thing the chickens are eating.

It is always fine to provide free-choice oyster shell and free-choice grit. The chickens will tend to eat the amount they need of each one, and ignore it if they do not need it.

Yes, layer feed does have calcium mixed in, at a rate that is right (or close enough) for most laying hens. Most other feeds for chickens do not have enough calcium for layers. Just check the label-- layer feed has around 4% calcium, other chicken feeds have around 1% calcium.

Any pelleted or crumbled feed has already been ground up, so the chickens don't really need grit. But if the chickens are eating anything else (whole grains, scratch, bugs, weeds, etc) then you should make sure they have a source of grit too. If they have access to ground that includes small rocks, they may find their own grit rather than you needing to buy it and provide it to them.