mixed up chooks at the Chick Inn

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ChickInn

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I think i have old english bantams.
They are good egg layers, and excellent mummies - so far have raised a brood of six in May 2017 and another four about a week/10 days ago (August 2017)
They are all free range in a secure area, as i have dogs, and they share with two brown hens and two sussex.
I did have a cockrel (old english) but i found him dead the other day, i think 'hen pecked'!
My problem is that the feeding is getting awkward.
Crumbs for the chicks, growers for the 10 weeks, and layers for the adults.
Because they are all together i cant stop them from eating each others feed.
Any suggestions.
 
That's the problem. Because chick crumbs are the most nutritious they will all go for that. However it will not do them any harm particularly now that egg production begins to tail off. So though it's a bit more pricey I would feed this until the youngest are 6 weeks old then growers until they are 16 weeks old then layers pellets after that.
As you have discovered, it's not ideal having them all in together but needs must etc.
 
Hi ChickInn and welcome to the forum.
That's what I was thinking - everyone has chick crumb until they are all big enough for layers pellets but you could also provide a bowl of oyster shell so the hens can top up their calcium if they feel the need. (I think the chicks/pullets would be unlikely to show any interest in the shell until they approached laying.)
 
thanks guys

i will go get some more crumb and some grit,

so - it wont harm my layers - not having the layers pellets?
 
No, they'll be fine. In fact they'll think all their Christmas's have come at once.
When I'm rearing chicks if their troughs have got a lot of shavings in them I just empty them outside. The adults which are free ranging fall on this like a flock of gannets!
 
Recently I combined two mixed lots of bantams, and put down both chick crumbs and growers pellets, to my utter delight the older girls went for their food and the younger the chick crumbs. Lucky me problem solved!
 
One word of caution. Before doing this make sure that your chick crumbs haven't got coccidiostat added as many now do. If you do find it contains coccidiostat then you cannot feed it to your laying hens.
 
Could you perhaps make a small separate enclosure within the run for the new chicks, so they have their own chick crumb, water, and shelter from wind and rain, at least until they're 8 weeks old and can move on to growers feed? Ideally this would be a little broody coop and run, but just a mesh partition could do the job.
 
They all LOVE the crumbs!
No its has not got coccidiostat, the eggs are fine. Just have runny poos - been advised its the protein in the feed.
Another question, i do give them kitchen scraps - usually cooked up first into a mash - they all like that. Occasionally a pile of hand picked grass, along with chick weed they seem to like.
I watched Countryfile last night and they mentioned the weed 'Fat Hen', i have it around here - does anyone give this to their chickens?
 
Once had Asian neighbours, who were really excited at finding Fat Hen in the garden as they cook with it a lot. used to dig mine up and pass it over
 
I'd never heard of it until today. Looked it up and apparently they grow it as a crop in India. Must have been used to feed a load of different animals over the years as it is also known as lambs quarters, goosefoot and pigweed.
 
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