What age do you you change their food?

[notsoangrybirds]

Hello,

My six chicks are a month old now and doing great. I was just wondering at what age do you make the transition from the starter/chick food to the adult food? I'd appreciate any opinions or personal experiences. Thanks.

 

[chicmom]

Hello! At age 17 weeks, I change them over to layer crumbles. That way, the extra calcium can get into their systems for those nice strong egg shells.

 

[jak2002003]

You will know when to change when the chickens look start to look like adult birds and are nearly as big as the adults.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

If you are raising a layer flock...then feed Chick Feed until they start laying then switch to a Layer Ration.

 

[Chris09]

You'll want to feed your Starter/Grower till you get the first egg then you can switch to the Layer type.
You don't want to switch them too soon because the extra Calcium that is in Layer Feed could do more harm than good in Non-Laying birds.

Chris

 

[phelpcd1]

Huh??

Do NOT feed layer crumble until AFTER they start laying eggs? Ughhhhh......I added in layer crumble a couple of weeks ago to the pullet developer I was feeding...they are 15-18 weeks old now. Am I hurting them by doing this? They are fairly large, not little babies at all..(see below). Fred, my EE is small...but they all are eating the food, and they have pretty much destroyed my Dill and another large plant that tastes like celery too.

Could feeding them layer crumble too early cause crooked neck issues I wonder? Louise just started that within the last 2 weeks......sigh

 

[Fred's Hens]

If a pullet is 16 weeks old, there isn't much chance of hurting her by early feeding of layer feed. There likely wouldn't be time to do any damage.

There is no advantage to feeding high calcium layer feed early, however. None I can think of.

 

[Chris09]

A hen only stores Calcium in her bones when she is laying so feeding extra Calcium at pre-laying age has no advantages even feeding a layer feed to a non-laying hen that is in molt or in a non-laying season (winter) can cause some damage to her kidneys.

Chris

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

ut oh for me, my 8 weekers are having a snack from the layer mash, the rooster eats it too

 

[phelpcd1]

What do you feed non-laying hens? I mean adult hens...........prob a dumb ? but I didn't realize or think about the times they aren't laying!