When to switch from chick starter?

[Savyjoy]

at what age is it good to switch from chick starter? Also any particular brands people recommend? Thanks in advance!!

 

[Fur-N-Fowl]

I tend to switch to grower pellets at around 7 weeks of age.

From 6 weeks I gradually mix some into the crumb so they get used to the bigger pieces but that's not always necessary.

I'm not sure where you are located but I use Farmgate ACS chick crumb and grower pellets. Then when they get to the POL I feed all my chickens FancyFeeds Breeder & Show pellets!

 

[PioneerChicks]

I feed mine crumbles until I deem them big enough for all flock feed, and once they start laying I mix layer pellet into their flock feed.

 

[aart]

at what age is it good to switch from chick starter? Also any particular brands people recommend? Thanks in advance!!

I feed a 20% flock raiser to all ages and genders...with Oyster shell in a separate feeder for the layers.
When recommending feed, the protein percentage is important to note as the 'grower/starter/all flock/layer' names don't tell the whole story.
Whether it's crumble or pellets or mash has nothing to do with the nutrition, just the size and shape of formulation.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The best thing you can do is to read the instructions on the back of the bag. Only the manufacturer knows exactly what is in the feed and what ages it was milled to feed.
Virtually all bags of feed have charts on the back of the bag showing when to switch feed for their line of products. That will vary from company to company.

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

My mixed flock are on a layer/all flock mixed feed. They are either laying or close. My other flock are on just the Purina all flock.

 

[aart]

The best thing you can do is to read the instructions on the back of the bag. Only the manufacturer knows exactly what is in the feed and what ages it was milled to feed.
Virtually all bags of feed have charts on the back of the bag showing when to switch feed for their line of products. That will vary from company to company.

Am surprised you subscribe to/advise this technique @ChickenCanoe .

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Am surprised you subscribe to/advise this technique @ChickenCanoe .

That is because, as good as the advice from BYC folk is, unless the OP tells the brand and type of feed, we don't know as much as the manufacturer about what is in it, the exact nutrient balance and what age/species they formulated it for.
Most people don't read the bag, much less the guaranteed analysis tag or look for the mill date. I'm trying to correct that.
Most people aren't poultry nutritionists but the manufacturers employ several, usually with doctorates.
Also, most people have a handful of birds, sometimes all the same age, sometimes not.
If not, that's when it gets complicated and one needs to better immerse themselves in nutrition.

Often the advice here is all over the board. It usually works but not as well as reading the bag.
Most of the advice I see here advises too high of protein for mature poultry. The bump up from 16% to 17% for a regular diet is huge. IMHO 20% is way too high for mature chickens and other poultry. They don't need it, that excess can cause articular gout and if not, it is wasted and ends up in the bedding as ammonia.
Mature roosters do best on 13-15% protein.
Mature game birds not in breeding season are good with 12-13% protein.
I do bump up animal protein slightly when birds are molting.

 

[aart]

Most people don't read the bag, much less the guaranteed analysis tag or look for the mill date. I'm trying to correct that.

Ditto Dat! Same here.
Better to read at least the protein and calcium percentages than follow the MFG hoops.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They may be the same people who don't read the ingredients on the food they themselves eat.
The manufacturer charts are all about appropriate protein and calcium.
I'm not an apologist for the feed industry even though I worked in the industry for some of the largest poultry producers.
Still, I would rather follow the recommendation of someone with 10 years of advanced degrees studying the poultry nutrition research than a person with an unknown background on an internet forum.
There is a small difference in needs of commercial poultry and free range backyard flocks, yet the producers like Purina, Nutrena, et. al. understand that and the nutritionists adjust accordingly. Purina is contemplating a new feed for aged hens. Original formulas were designed based on research for commercial poultry that never lived more than 2 years. So the feeds available to the public are similarly formulated.
Egg and broiler operations have their own feed mills, they don't buy the feeds available to us. Their formulas are proprietary and can produce mill runs that most closely match the ages of birds they have and every barn of millions of birds are all the same age. Those birds also get the freshest feed, most of it was just milled in the previous 24 hours.
I edited my previous post if you are interested.