Re: Switching from growers to layers

Krys Francis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
[...].
> It would seem that every book has a different opinion about feed, in the
> same way as the number of hours of daylight recommended for egg
> production seems to vary V.Roberts writes 14 hours, on BOCM Paul's layer
> pellets bag it used to say 17 hours were required, I've also seen 15
> hours quoted.

I have always heard 16 hours as the optimum, just to confuse it a little..
>
> Differences between grower & layer pellets seem to vary rather more than
> I'd thought.
> One book states that giving excess calcium damages the kidneys.

There is a very interesting article about the damage that feeding excess
calcium can do to the kidneys in the latest issue of Country Smallholding.

[...]
> I  suspect that at the end of the day, the exact age when one changes from
> grower to layers is probably not that critical.

I think so too, but there again, I don't keep hybrids any more.  When I did,
very briefly, when I first kept chickens in the 70's I did what the man I
got them from told me.  Growers up to 16 weeks, then layers. I got fed up
with losing them from egg peritonis and switched to pure breeds.  I still do
the same thing, switch  from growers to layers at about 16 weeks |(unless
the bag runs out earlier or later ;-) ) and I have had absolutely no problem
with this at all.  Some of them are now ten years old.  Lay a bit.  Not lay
a lot..
>
> I use breeder pellets because I can get them.

I can't, in the small quantity that I need.  I have used pheasant breeder
pellets (which I can order)  mixed in with layers successfully for the few
breeders I have each year.

I really don't think that the exact balance of nutrients in the feed is that
critical, unless you are set for maximum anything. I'm not.  I let my girls
go along at their own pace, but there again I am not earning my living from
them.

Tina