rizhussain44
In the Brooder
Hi Fellows, sorry for this long question! I am a new chicken owner. I have a total of 10 chickens, 4 of these (2 ISA Brown & 2 California White) are now 14 weeks old, while the rest 6 (all Orpington Buffs) are now 12 weeks old.
What I have researched so far is that California White starts laying at age of 17 weeks while the ISA Brown and Orpington Buff starts laying at around 22 weeks or later. I feel this will be the case for my chickens too because my California white (CW) grew much faster than the rest.. they got their complete tail feathers at around 8 or 9 weeks and they were the tallest back then.. even though the rest of the chickens have now caught up or even surpassed the CW in size their tail feathers and wing tip feathers are still small in size.
So, assuming that my CW will start laying in 3 to 4 more weeks (18 week age) and the rest of my chickens will start laying much later, I plan to keep them all on the start & grow feed they are currently on and then introduce free-choice calcium (oyster or egg shells on side) when my older chickens (CW) will reach the age of 18 or even sooner if they start laying eggs.
Now, the question I have is, whether I should switch to layer feed for all of them when my younger chickens reach the age of 18 weeks or shall I keep them all on start and grow feed with free-choice calcium until most of my chicken start laying eggs? I assume that will be by week 22 to 23.
What I have researched so far is that California White starts laying at age of 17 weeks while the ISA Brown and Orpington Buff starts laying at around 22 weeks or later. I feel this will be the case for my chickens too because my California white (CW) grew much faster than the rest.. they got their complete tail feathers at around 8 or 9 weeks and they were the tallest back then.. even though the rest of the chickens have now caught up or even surpassed the CW in size their tail feathers and wing tip feathers are still small in size.
So, assuming that my CW will start laying in 3 to 4 more weeks (18 week age) and the rest of my chickens will start laying much later, I plan to keep them all on the start & grow feed they are currently on and then introduce free-choice calcium (oyster or egg shells on side) when my older chickens (CW) will reach the age of 18 or even sooner if they start laying eggs.
Now, the question I have is, whether I should switch to layer feed for all of them when my younger chickens reach the age of 18 weeks or shall I keep them all on start and grow feed with free-choice calcium until most of my chicken start laying eggs? I assume that will be by week 22 to 23.