Chicks do not eat one diet from the brooder to the laying house. Their needs change in stages, and the feed changes with them in a set order: a starter ration from hatch to about six weeks, a grower ration from about six weeks until point of lay, and a layer ration only once laying starts. Point of lay commonly arrives around eighteen to twenty-two weeks depending on breed, so a slow-maturing breed may stay on grower feed longer than a fast hybrid, and the birds, not the calendar alone, make the final call.
Starter Ration: Hatch to About Six Weeks
For the first stage, offer a starter ration made for chicks, in a shallow dish or chick feeder they can reach without climbing in, with clean water in a shallow drinker they cannot tip or fall into. Newly hatched chicks live off the yolk for their first day or so, then need feed and water within easy reach at all times during this stage, because growth in these weeks is fast and constant. The starter ration carries the protein and energy that feather growth, bone growth and steady weight gain all draw on, which is why this stage should not be diluted with extras. Keep the feed dry and fresh, tip out fines and damp crumbs, and watch that smaller chicks are getting to the feeder rather than being shouldered aside by bigger hatch mates.
Make each change gradually, mixing the new ration into the old over several days, so their digestion adjusts and nobody stops eating because the dish suddenly smells different.
Grower Ration: About Six Weeks Until Point of Lay
At about six weeks, move them onto a grower ration and stay on it until point of lay. This stage builds frame, muscle and a full set of feathers at a steadier pace. The grower ration supports that growth without the calcium load of a laying diet, and that restraint is the point: pullets fed a layer ration too early take in calcium their kidneys and growing bodies are not set up to use, for shells they are not yet making. Birds at this stage are also learning the outdoors, ranging, dust bathing and roosting, and their feeders and drinkers should move with them so feed stays dry and water stays clean in the pen as well as the house.
Judge the approach of laying by the birds themselves. Combs redden and grow, pullets start visiting nest boxes and squatting, and the first eggs, when they come, are often small. Those signs together say the flock is arriving at point of lay, commonly around eighteen to twenty-two weeks depending on breed.
Layer Ration: Only Once Laying Starts
Switch to a layer ration only once laying starts, mixing it in gradually as before. Now the calcium in the ration has a job, because every shell is built from it, and a hen laying regularly on a grower ration would draw that calcium from her own body. Offer a separate dish of shell grit once they are laying if your system uses it, so each hen can take extra calcium as she needs it rather than having the whole ration pushed higher. Keep fresh water available at all times in every stage, since a bird that cannot drink cannot eat properly either, and a drinker failure shows up in feed intake within a day.
Lena handles the morning feed and water check and Owen handles the evening check, and each of them records which ration the batch is on, so a stage change is a planned event on one agreed day rather than something that drifts between feeders. Their stage changes are set in the Care Teams plan for the flock, with the current ration named for both feeders.
Write each ration change in the Care Teams notebook on KinsLe the week it happens, and the whole flock stays on one stage at a time.