[nicnac]

Hi I'm after some more advice from you guys please!  I got my chickens on Saturday (catain Jack, even though she's a girl!, buffy and annabel) and they are beautifull!  A friend of a friend gave them to us which was great but he said that he was giving them layer pellets but we have just found out today that the girls are only about 3 months old!  So surely they should still be on grower pellets, should'nt they?  I am still reading and learning lots but I just wanted to check with some of you guys as well.  With the bedding, I have opted to put straw in the nesting boxes and woodshavings on the poo tray and straw in the run.
Any help with the food would be great, thanks!

Nicnac

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, congratulations on getting your girls!
What are you giving them now?
Most of us give a good quality layers pellet, a handful of corn in the afternoon in cold weather, and hang some green stuff (lettuce/cabbage) up for them. They will eat anything, but fat hens dont lay, and giving processed food, or stuff with salt /sugar on is not good. Remember, just because they eat it dosent mean they should have it

[nicnac]

thanks.  at the moment we are giving them layers pellets like the guy we got them from was but we are concerned that because of their age they should be on growers pellets and not layers pellets yet?

[Foxy]

At 3mths old I would have them on growers until about 18weeks old thats a general rule of thumb.

Are you sure they are 12weeks old though?That would mean hatched around November time. Hybrid suppliers don't usually sell on until POL

Any idea what breed they are? For example large, heavy soft feather breeds I would have them on growers a bit longer

[nicnac]

Hi I have 2 dark brahmas and a buff orpington and they are large fowl as aposed to bantams

[Foxy]

Hi I have 2 dark brahmas and a buff orpington and they are large fowl as aposed to bantams

Ahhh nice! stick them on growers for sure, lovely breeds

[nicnac]

Hi thanks for the advice.  Now off to buy some grower pellets! 

[hillfooter]

thanks.  at the moment we are giving them layers pellets like the guy we got them from was but we are concerned that because of their age they should be on growers pellets and not layers pellets yet?

I think you've probably answered the question here.  Ideally you should feed growers up to 15 weeks and then start to phase in layers over the next 2 weeks or so until they are on layers alone by 18weeks.  However if you are continuing with the feed they are used to at 3 months I would just continue that.  The main difference between growers and layers is the amount of calcium, basically they will have been getting too much calcium but it's not worth changing now.

Continuing to feed growers past 18 weeks to use up your feed isn't a great issue particularly if you mix it with layers.  Feeding layers to very youing birds is more of a problem since it can effect their skeleton development but it's not neccessarily going to do any damage.

HF