What feed do we use?

[Grandma Tillie]

Helped my mother raise chickens when a child. Now have chickens of my own. We live in town. We have two hens and a rooster. They are my adult daughter’s pets. They are 4 months old. We have them for egg laying purposes. Do we change their food to the feed for egg layers now , when?

 

[Cyprus]

Keep them on chick feed.
Only give them layer feed once you start seeing eggs.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us. There’s no definitive answer. Personally, I’d switch to all / general flock / growers feed now and put oyster shell in a separate feeder (so additional calcium is available for the pullets when they begin to lay). Where I live there’s no oyster shell or suitable source of additional calcium, so any cock-bird would also be eating layers feed.

If you are intending to feed layers feed - as stated above chick feed is good, but layers feed at this age would also be acceptable, imo.

This link will provide additional thoughts
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1138895/topic-of-the-week-feeding-chickens-what-to-feed-and-when

Best wishes
Pork Pie

 

[adrikeen]

So glad you joined our flock! Pull up a roost!

 

[BlueBaby]

Hello, and welcome to BYC!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens. So glad you joined the flock.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC!
We are glad you joined our flock!
It's safe to switch them to layer feed a few weeks before they start laying. I'll be back in a few minutes with a link to a book on nutrtition in case you'd like to read it.
This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

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[Joeschooks]

Its great to have you here! Some good answers here already...

 

[Kiki]

I'm back.
Here ya go:
https://www.nap.edu/read/2114/chapter/4#25 Feel free to start reading on page 25, although I highly recommend the whole book.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I'm back.
Here ya go:
https://www.nap.edu/read/2114/chapter/4#25 Feel free to start reading on page 25, although I highly recommend the whole book.
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