I have 4 RIRs that will be 20 wks old Monday, Nov 1. I have approx. 10lbs of grower feed left. This should last another week or so. The combs & wattles are getting big on 3 of them and starting to get darker. My question, what should I purchase for feed. Grower or Layer? I'm hoping they start laying soon, but you never know for sure when that is going to happen. Any suggestions please?
Some of my girls are into their 5th or 6th month and laying. However the EE's haven't started laying yet so I have everyone on grower or flock raiser (depending on which store I go to) with free choice oyster shell. As soon as I start getting blue or green eggs I'll switch them over to layer but not until. My rule is to feed to the younger birds. If I still have grower left at that point I'll just mix it in with the layer until it is all gone. If you give them oyster shell your layers will be fine but if you feed layer feed to nonlaying pullets you may have health problems.
Flock Raiser. That way you don't have to worry about switching. Ever! Just offer crushed oyster shell free choice
I'd go with a bag of Flock Raiser myself and mix it in gradually with the grower then a feeding of scratch grains in the late evening or you can hang another feeder if you like. If that's too much trouble then just move them over to layer feed. Mix it into the grower feed gradually until it's all gone.
