I have 11 laying hens and a rooster. Just introduced 7 week old babies a few weeks ago. Their wooden brooding box is in the coop. Everyone free ranges during the day an all get locked into the coop at night. I have the big birds on layer crumble and the babies on Purina Start and grow. They seem to eat each others food. Any ideas on what to feed them so there is no mix up? I do have oyster shell available in a small bowl that nobody has touched in 3 months!!! What do you all do for mixed aged chickens in the same coop?
Flock grower. As long as you have oyster shells available for the hens laying, they should get enough calcium.
Yup, what Kansaseq said. I use all-purpose grower/finisher for everybody, keeping the oyster shell available free choice.
I do the same if it is not available I buy started ans layer and mix them. Niether food is gonna hurt them.
But the layer can definitely hurt the chicks; it should not be available to them. Hens will get plenty of calcium from the oyster shell, and the chicks will take little or none of it. The hens and roo will do fine on almost any other -- grower, flock raiser, etc. Actually, layer isn't the best thing for roos, either, but they will obviously survive on it, we feed it to them all the time. People who raise roos separately often feed them a higher protein, lower calcium feed.
I have to agree with the other posters here. Feed grower feed with free choice oyster shell. From what I have read on here, the extra calcium in layer food could damage the chicks kidneys.
