Tina C Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 I am looking at feeders and drinkers for my new bantams. At the moment they have old-style peanuts, which are OK for pellets but they don't hold much water. Because the girls are quite young they have a dish of water as well, which gets very dirty although I don't think they are too worried about that I have not seen them drink out of the peanut yet. I did think about attempting to to swap one of the peanuts for a glug but I think they need something lower than a glug. Any advice out there? My big girls have mash and pellets - pellets in the grub and mash in a bowl, in a litter tray to contain the mess. I was wondering if anybody could recommend a type of feeder that works well with mash? I have some growers pellets for the new girls but was wondering if anyone could tell me what these give them that layers mash/pellets do not. As we don't know exactly how old they are I am worried about when to change them over and if it was a big deal if we did it too early/too late? Sorry that's a lot of questions, but I know 'someone who knows' is out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 I have bumped this back up again as I got no replies. If anyone could just help me on the growers pellets question please that would be great. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 My new girls have taken to drinking from the new style glug with ease if thats any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madchook Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 It is more that the levels of calcium in layers are too high for developing youngsters and can cause skeletal deformities I think. If they aren't too far off maturing I would just give them layers-do you have any idea at all how old they are at all? My girls are still on growers, I have had them since they were 4 days old. Was going to change them next week when I thought I had a couple of weeks to give them enough Ca but they have decided to start laying anyway At least they supplement their diets plentifully in the garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 Thanks Madchook. Probably wild guesses but the oldest 2 are about 14 weeks (maybe more) then there is one a bit younger and two littlies, who are maybe 8 weeks? We rehomed them last week from a barn. We did not really intend to take such young girls but, well, it happened. I know that they should not really be mixed up but these girls were part of a flock that roamed in a yard with cockerels and hens of all ages so they are used to mixing it. There was a bit of chasing at frst but it was just rank pulling and all that settled on the first day. Bone deformities! Oh dear. I think I will keep them all on growers until at least the oldest get close to laying. Bronze also had some of the girls - but was sensible enough to stick to older girls - there are some pics of hers in the Tina and Bron's adventure thread - one of hers is laying but I think mone are younger than hers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted October 16, 2007 Author Share Posted October 16, 2007 Oh and they are all drinking from the peanuts now Bron. Not a problem today anyway - rain rain rain eveywhere and they seem to have been drinking off the run bars... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bronze Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Im so blind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 Best to keep them on growers until about 18-20 weeks, then switch gradually to layers pellets. Mine prefer to drink out of a rabbit bottle, not surprising really when you see how dirty they get the water in the Glug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shirl Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 There's a good article on feeding in Practical poultry this month. In the article it doesn't mention calcium more the protein levels. It also says if you don't change to layers once they start laying then their egg production will be reduced. It's def worth a read. Shame it doesn't mention the calcium levels too so you know what the likely hood of deformity is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madchook Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 There's a good article on feeding in Practical poultry this month. In the article it doesn't mention calcium more the protein levels. It also says if you don't change to layers once they start laying then their egg production will be reduced. It's def worth a read. Shame it doesn't mention the calcium levels too so you know what the likely hood of deformity is. Maybe it is all a load of baloney then, I read up on it when I was switching from chick crumb, was confused as normally in most animals dietry Ca is excreted in urine but I took it as read. Seems there is a lot of heresay in the world of poultry! Sorry if I gave the wrong info, but I would def keep them on growers myself. Food for any immature critter tends to be more nutritionally dense, so they will do better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
