When to stop feeding Start & Grow?

[jessienicole]

LeBlackbird! Thanks so much for your response.

Here is what happened. I ordered a bunch of chicks from McMurray but didn't any order bantams b/c of the straight run factor (can't have roos). I REALLY wanted some silkies and frizzles and saw an add on craigslist for 10 week old frizzles and silkie bantams. Perfect! (I thought) So I called on the ad. and went up to get me a few pullets ( I figured I could tell the differnce by 10 weeks.....wrong) I had never had chickens at this point nor did I even know about this fantastic resource BYC (although I did discover it the night I got home with these chicks).

Well when I got there the woman had them in a tent in a shed! She claims she bought them for her granddaughter who lost interest as they got older and because of health reasons she couldn't take care of them. She had 13 I only wanted 3-4 but she begged me to take them all and resell what I didn't want. Feeling sorry for this chickens I agreed. As I was getting them into a box to take home she just happened to pick up a bag of feed and say "this is what I have been feeding them.....layer already" although I knew that is not what they should be eating I had no idea that it would be so bad for them.

I got them home only to discover one could hardly walk (although she has made an almost full recovery, I think from splayed leg) and they all had cocci! Immediately treated them for the cocci and put them on a medicated starter grower with 18% protein. Since they are bantams I am note sure if they are growing correctly or not?!?!? They have always seems to be doing fine even when they had cocci, happy as could be.

Now the more research I have done I realize that they could have been hurt by the laying feed. I honestly don't know how long she had been feeding it to them. I wish I had known to ask when I picked them up from her.

I am happy I got them out of there but sad about all the bad things that happened to them

 

[LeBlackbird]

Keep them on that 18%, if you want for this situation, you can bump them up to a 20%. (don't know if you have Dumor in your area, but they make a nice 20% grower). Just keep giving them lots of love and care and keep them clean if you're worried about their nutrition, you can add a water-soluble vitamin supplement to their waterer, or even give them access to greens or veggies (also give them access to grit if you're feeding anything other than grower). If they aren't lethargic, or having leg/joint problems, then they're probably doing just fine. Watch the color of their mouths/tongues (should be full of color, not pale) and their poop (if fully recovered, should be having mostly solid droppings, shouldn't be having weird, runny colors like yellows and bright greens). These can be indicators of other lingering parasites/diseases, kidney, or liver problems. Silkies and silkie crosses are probably one of the most difficult to sex in the chicken world, so give it a couple weeks to see who's who! Best of luck!

 

[jessienicole]

Ok so now that you have alerted me that I should be examining poop better i can see a lot of deep mustard yellow runny poop. Some normal looking poop too. Now I'm concerned because I don't know what that means and I have 20ish chicks arriving in the morning. Can anyone help? Also my lab have definitely eaten some chicken poop which is making me nervous too!

 

[LeBlackbird]

Ok so now that you have alerted me that I should be examining poop better i can see a lot of deep mustard yellow runny poop. Some normal looking poop too. Now I'm concerned because I don't know what that means and I have 20ish chicks arriving in the morning. Can anyone help? Also my lab have definitely eaten some chicken poop which is making me nervous too!

I don't think chicken poo will harm your dog, my bonehead Doberman snatched it all the time when I wasn't looking

Here's the poo chart if you need it!
http://chat.allotment.org/index.php?topic=17568.0

 

[GimmeCake]

Why would you do that? I'm eating!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Sorry, should have been more clear. Corn is energy dense, as you said, and works in relation to the protein levels of feed. The two biggest ingredients in most poultry feeds are Corn and Soybean byproduct. The two ingredients rise and fall in unison (to maintain balance) according to what feed is being made. So higher protein feed is more energy dense (higher % corn/soy). Sorry for the confusion, was refering to the relation of the level of ingredients, didn't mean to make it seem like everything came directly from the corn.

I took an informational class on making poultry feed at the Penn state ag center not long ago, the man they had runnning the class was heading their whole feed department! He was very intelligent, easy to work with, and had a wonderful sense of humor. He sent us home with a lot of informational papers, and also a recipe for making layer mash (by the hundred pounds). If anyone would like to take a stab at it, I can probably photocopy it on here

The soybean is what ups the protein to compensate for the fact that corn can be as low as 7%.

http://www.ingredients101.com/soybeanml.htm

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/51/4/623.full.pdf

Soy is more expensive than corn so the protein percentages in each is why there is that balance. I worked in the feedmill industry for several of the largest poultry producers. One project I did was to install an enzyme tank in the system for a turkey producer which allowed the turkeys to better utilize the corn protein so they could use more of that and less soybean to lower their overall feed cost.

 

[BY Chicken Lady]

i have different age chicks would i have to split them then once i had to start feeding mine some new feed not starter anymore ?? i have 6 3 week olds and one 1 week old 

I have one layer and eight 9+ week old chicks. I house them all together but keep their food separate. I do this by mounting the layers food higher than the little ones can reach, but low enough she can easily get in to the food. The chick food is hidden behind my storage cans where they can easily reach it but she can't squeeze in there. I figure when they are tall enough to reach the layer food, they will be about the right age to eat it. It works for us...at least for now.

 

[3riverschick]

Quote: Hi Donrae,
This is what I am doing. I have birds of several ages. My adult trio breeding birds. My chicks from 10 to 16 weeks. Have switched everyone to Southern States All Grain Meat Maker. Will give the layers some extra oyster shell.
Best,
Karen

 

[Sharon Bee]

I have a 60 baby chickens, all between 2-3 weeks but when do I start feeding them adult food?who can tell me?? Walkera Hélicoptère RC Walkera UFO Series Walkera Super CP

Read the above posts as this explains it very well.

 

[dokam]

Did you ever do any research on this? I have been feeding my chicks the starter food, too - and they are now 4 months old. I hate to think that I have been creating fat hens...