Which feed when introducing chicks?

sbelmont2

In the Brooder
Jan 31, 2019
14
6
44
Boulder, CO
I have a couple of chickens that are a year old and I am getting ready to integrate eight week old chicks. The hens are eating layer feed and the chicks are ready to switch to grower feed.

Can the older hens eat the grower feed along with the chicks? I have no way of separating them for food once they are all sharing the same coop and run. Can I leave out eggshell for my hens or is it bad for the chicks to get into it?
 
Continuing the grower feed for the whole flock and putting oyster shell in a separate container is how everyone does it. The birds that don't need the extra calcium won't eat it. That technique seems to work well for most people.
Egg shells will work but oyster shell is better. They are both primarily calcium carbonate, which is 40% calcium but the larger particle size of the OS stays in the upper digestive tract longer. The effect of that is it comes into contact with the calcium absorption sites in the small intestine at night when eggs are normally in the uterus (shell gland).
That is when demand for calcium in the blood stream is at its highest and lends to the hens' ability to send calcium to the uterus quickly.
 
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