will this hurt my youngsters?

[Arkansas81]

i have some hens that are getting ready to lay, but i also have some hens that are not quite there yet.

So question is:
can i feed layer ration to all of the chickens. my oldest is 4 months my youngets are about 2 weeks younger.

or do i still need to feed chick feed to the younger and layer to the older ones?

i have been feeding all of them scratch but they only seem to like the small stuff, ignore the bigger stuff with in the scratch. is that bad...do i need to supplement them with something other? they seem to be growing and developing just fine.

thanks for any info...

 

[Den in Penn]

None of them are laying yet so feed them all a grower or all flock feed. I would keep them on that until they are all laying. The extra calcium in layer feed can hurt the non layer's kidneys. Put a calcium supplement, like oyster shell, in a side dish for the ones who are laying. If you can't get a grower or all flock you can give a unmedicated starter to them.

 

[TwoCrows]

X2

I used unmedicated starter feed until all the girls were laying. You can keep some oyster shell around for the laying ones. The higher protein won't bother anybody and the layers can still get the calcium from the free choice oyster shell.