when to change food.

[ticks]

Hi, my chicks are almost a week and a half old.I have heard that you should take them off chick starter after 10 weeks and put them on a 15% grower finisher. After 18 weeks They should have a 16% layer. They say it is good for egg production, so I was wondering if my rooster could eat it to. Is that all the feed they need for their life, or dd I leave anything out? thanks,
ticks

 

[ibpboo]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=48902

I found this thread so far.

 

[digitS']

They say it is good for egg production, so I was wondering if my rooster could eat it to. Is that all the feed they need for their life, or dd I leave anything out? thanks,
ticks

To take your last question 1st - some chickens are fed a "breeder feed." Breeder formulas have higher vitamin & protein content than what is usually given to layers. Calcium levels are virtually the same in feeds for both layers & breeders. The cooperative extension folks don't usually advise small flock owners to bother with breeder feed because it is hard to find, more expensive, and not much different from layer ration.

I see the other question come up now and then and note that there are different opinions on roosters kept on high-calcium rations.

Calcium content is much higher in layer/breeder feed than in feed for younger birds. And, a too high calcium diet for chicks is said, by every authoritative source that I've read, to interfere with the growth of young birds and can cause kidney dysfunction. So does it cause kidney dysfunction in roosters who don't need it for egg production?

Here's what a poultry science specialist writing for the Ministry of Agriculture, Ontario has to say: "It is also interesting to realize that most roosters today are fed high-calcium breeder diets, which provide 4-6x their calcium needs, yet kidney dysfunction is quite rare in these birds."

If you have special concern about your rooster, I think you could give him a seperate feeding of something like scratch, which has little calcium and would dilute the calcium level of his overall diet. How you keep the hens from eating the same feed could be a problem. Certainly, you don't want to have the hens short-changed in their calcium needs by too much concern for the roo.

Steve​

 

[ticks]

thanks Steve

 

[CoyoteMagic]

My chicks (and my big girls when they were chicks) are on Purina Start&Grow and will be until they they are bout 22 weeks or start laying whichever comes first. My big girls are big, fat and sassy and give me 3-5 eggs a day out of 5 girls. I have thought of switching everyone over to Purina Flock Raiser until everyone is laying but have also considered leaving them all on it (I think I have a few roos) and just suplimenting calcium for my hens. What do the chicken experts think?!