AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

At what age can I change my chicks diet from chick starter to scratch mix. Is 6 weeks too young?

It is recommended to feed growing chicks starter crumbles from 0 - 6 weeks, then grower crumbles until closer to laying (maybe 16 week onward).

Scratch mix/layer pellets have different levels of nutrients better designed for adult chooks. Hens use more protein and calcium when producing an egg every day, this level is too much for growing chicks.

They won't grow as robust if they aren't fed age appropriate food and you don't want this affecting their future egg laying capacity for you.

can I be bossy here please =
This is JUST my opinion - this below is just a recommendation from many years of trial and error in my backyard and from discussions with other breeders

Starter to 8-9 weeks
Grower to first egg - depending on the breed that can be 24 to 26 weeks - however some larger breeds are 9-11 months before they start laying [Orpington and Brahma as example]

Do not give scraps or let them free range before 16 weeks small and mid range breeds - 24 weeks larger breeds

To do so dilutes the amount of medicants in the feed and reduces the birds opportunity to acquire a good resistance to coccidiosis

The larger breeds also do better on Turkey and Meat Bird starter and grower as they require more protein for longer to enable them to grow to the sizes involved

Hi Sooz, are you mostly talking about larger scale operations where the cocci bacteria load in the soil is probably a lot heaver than the average back yard?

From my perspective I'm small enough to have hen raised chicks (or ducklings) and they're on grass from hatch (with crumbles as their only 'food' supply). I don't really have the pens to keep different aged young off grass for 16 weeks

Now I'm freaked out! I thought the medicated chick starter helped stop cocci taking hold as opposed to giving the bird resistance to cocci? Doesn't resistance occur after being slowly exposed to something? Is it not just that at 16 weeks the bird is bigger and stronger and therefore better able to survive being exposed to cocci?

Except for grass I would imagine most birds wouldn't get much real food from free ranging because mostly the place has been cleared by previous chooks of anything really nutritious. Scraps fed once a week wouldn't interfer with growth or cocci resistance would it?

Ok thanks, I can buy the grower I looked at it last week but wasn't sure if it was the best for them, thanks for so much detail

Hi Roova – no not really regards large scale at all – I don’t have a large scale operation [unlike what some believe ]
But yes the Cocci load would be a lot ‘heavier’ in soil than a well maintained and regularly cleaned deep litter situation, as WHO has the dollars to Bobcat out a ½ metre of soil every 3-4 months and truck in fresh that BTW may already have Cocci in it = sigh

Most larger scale operations [commercial] are actually pretty clean when it comes to Cocci as they have to be well maintained unlike backyards where it is up to the owner [or that BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP neighbour that just has to complain about everything] as to how clean the place is kept, weather conditions also play a role of course.

Hen raised on clean grass being fed crumbles = a mix of both as food – but often these chicks will develop a good immunity to Cocci regardless of the medicant being ‘grassed’ [aka watered] down

DON’T FREAK OUT!!!! Most don’t realise the medicant is suppose to work by encouraging a resistance over time – I personally think ‘medicant’ is a bad word in this instance – but what word could be used in its place, as it is a medicant!
Yes resistance occurs after being exposed in minute amounts over time – the medicant helps speed this process
16 weeks or 16 years if a bird is exposed to enough Coccidia Oocysts and ingests, say – 4 Oocysts – that bird is infected and will show symptoms at which point it needs to be treated and treated properly

Free-range birds are usually rather lean all year round as grass is not a nutritionally complete food for chooks – yes they will get some grubs giving them protein – so those ONLY free ranged tend to be quite healthy birds but ‘lean’ and if they do get sick there is no ‘fat reserve’ for them to fall back on

Scraps once a week from 9-10 weeks is in my opinion fine but not before = to allow the ‘medicant’ to work on the bird


Blimey! I sound like some sort of ‘vigilante’! sorry folks!

Thanks Sue, much appreciated!

This is something I have struggled with too I think sometimes I take the chicks off the starter too soon and they suffer for it. Thanks for asking the question and thanks for the answers

yr welcome bucketlist AND [she says noticing this ^ is yr first post here],

Thanks for that