what should my 2.5-month-old chicks eat?

[beckysaur]

My 2.5-month-old chicks just moved outside.
They are now living with my full-grown buff orpington.
I was still feeding them chick feed. What do I do now that they are sharing a space with a hen? She keeps eating their chick feed and they seem to be eating her layer feed. Is it okay for them to eat layer fee already?

Thank you for any advice!

 

[Cats Critters]

Switch everyone to the chicks feed, layer has to much calcium for chicks, put oyster shells out free choice for your hen, so she gets her calcium for laying.

 

[Amy's Animals]

The easiest choice, of course, would be just to seperate them a little longer. If you only have one coop/run, put some temporary fencing in the middle, thats what I do and it works just fine. That way, the chickens are still close to each other and can bond but they can't eat each others feed. If you insist on not seperating them with a fence, try to put the chick feed in a creep feeder large enough for the chicks to go into but too small for the hen and I suggest putting the hens feed higher up were the chicks cant fly to but the hen can:cd I hope this helps

 

[Mahlzeit]

You should have them on the grower feed. As already said there is too much calcium in the layer pellets for the little ones.

 

[beckysaur]

Okay, so I have them all eating chick feed now. And I got some oyster shells for the hen. How much of the shells should she be eating per day?
Thank you!