What to feed your 10 week old hens??!!

[mrskenmore]

Hi All,

My 3 girls are 10 weeks old this week and I am just about out of chick starter so I will be needing to get new feed. My question is, what should they be eating at this point? Grower food? We are raising them to be layers and they are moving out to the coop this weekend (yea!) Do they also need grit? What about oyster shells? Sorry for all of the questions, but I find the information on feeding overwhelming and confusing! I just want to have happy healthy girls with a soy free organic feed if possible and non-gmo.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks all!

 

[gritsar]

The chicks can stay on starter until they start laying or you can switch to grower. I find it simpler to just keep them on starter. Actually, since I have usually have a combination of ages and species going - chicks, chickens, ducklings and adult ducks, I find it easiest to feed an all purpose feed (similar to Purina's Flockraiser) and offer oyster shell on the side for the birds in lay.
If the only thing they are eating is commercially prepared feed then they don't need grit. If you are feeding treats, you should offer grit, unless they have regular access to dirt/small pebbles to use for grit.

They will not need oyster shell until they start or get very close to starting to lay. You can go ahead and switch them over to layer feed around 16 weeks or when you get your first egg, whichever comes first.

As you get ready to move them to the coop beware of large temperature differences between where you have them now and the coop temperature.

 

[Julia62]

Mine were approx. 10 weeks and 12 weeks old when I got them (2 weeks ago). At the feed store I went to, they gave me Bar Ale Hi-Energy feed that appears to be a layer feed (2% min calcium). On the Bar Ale website it says to use the chick feed until 8 weeks, then go to this one. I am wondering too if I should get them a grower for the next 4-5 weeks or just use this one? I was going to go to a different feed store today and ask them about it and if they have a small bag of grower.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Layer feed is always in the vicinity of 4% calcium. The 2% may not hurt them. 1% is more appropriate for growing birds. If the 2% is intended for birds actively building egg shells, that's not quite enough and needs a supplement of oyster shell.

Gritsar provided good info. I think grit is good for the gizzard whether or not they only eat feed or get other food items.

 

[Chris09]

At 2% calcium that sounds more like a pre-layer feed or a low calcium layer.

A pre-layer feed is fed for 2 week prior to laying and the extra calcium will help in the development of the medullary bone in laying stock.

 

[gritsar]

Gritsar provided good info. I think grit is good for the gizzard whether or not they only eat feed or get other food items.

This is true and it certainly won't hurt them.