I read the wonderful thread by the professor raising a porch flock of games and was startled to learn that some of his chicks died from eating scratch grains scattered for the adults-- the corn, I believe it was, tore up their tiny gastrointestinal tracts. No scratch-grains for my juveniles till I find out how old they should be before they get switched from baby food! Just mixed a bag of lay-pellets with a bunch of better stuff from the bulk section-- oats, barley, wheats, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, etc etc-- but how old should my five home-hatched chickens be when I move them to adult feed?
I believe last time I looked on the back of a bag of Dumor it was (with chickens) 16-18 weeks. Which seems a bit old to me, I typically start mixing chick starter with layer pellets around 14 weeks (if I'm not butchering them). If I am butchering them I try to feed them out completely with chick starter so they get enough protein. Hope this helps.
You can also switch them to a grower finisher until they start laying because the calcium and protein is different in layer feed and could potentially hurt the chicks I feed chicks starter until they are about 8-10 weeks old and that is when I switch them to a grower/finisher
