Chicken Feed by Age: Starter, Grower, Layer, Grit and Oyster Shell

Three Bags for Three Life Stages

A complete poultry feed is designed to be the whole diet, with the protein, minerals and vitamins balanced for the birds' age. The bag tells you which stage it's for and usually how long to feed it. Trust the label over a guess.

• Chick starter supports fast early growth. Crumbs suit small beaks. Some starter feeds are sold with an added medicine for young chicks; whether your chicks need it depends on where they came from and how they're kept, so ask your vet or the supplier.
• Grower steps the protein down while pullets fill out. Some brands sell a combined starter-grower that runs right through until laying.
• Layer feed adds calcium for eggshells. Switch when the first eggs appear, not on a date: breeds and even individual birds start laying at different ages, and bantams often start earlier.

Medicated feeds, worming and parasite treatments: see your vet or a pet supply store with trained staff. They can tell you what suits your flock and where you live.

Change feeds gradually over several days by mixing old and new, which helps avoid upset tummies.

Why Layer Feed Is Wrong for Young Birds

A laying hen draws heavily on calcium to build a shell almost every day. A chick, a pullet or a cockerel has no such need, and a steady diet of high-calcium layer feed puts a growing bird's kidneys under strain. The harm builds quietly, which is why "too early" is the classic first-flock feeding mistake.

If you find young birds have been on layer feed, switch back to the right feed for their age. If any bird seems unwell, call a vet who sees poultry rather than changing feeds and waiting.

Mixed Ages and Cockerels: All-Flock Feed

Most backyard flocks don't split neatly by age. Pullets live alongside laying hens, a cockerel shares the run, or ducks join the chickens. An all-flock (flock raiser) feed has lower calcium that suits every bird, and a separate dish of oyster shell lets the laying hens top up their own calcium. Birds that don't need it mostly leave it alone.

Ducks have their own needs, so read our pet duck guide before sharing a feed.

Grit and Oyster Shell: Two Different Jobs

These two get mixed up all the time, and neither can stand in for the other.

• Grit is small, insoluble stone. Chickens have no teeth, so the gizzard uses grit to grind food. Birds eating only pellets need little, but anything else they eat (grass, seeds, insects, mixed grain) needs grit to break it down. Keep a dish of poultry grit available all the time if your hens forage or get grain.
• Oyster shell is a soluble calcium source for laying hens. Offer it free-choice in a separate dish, especially alongside all-flock feed or when shells look thin.

Buy grit sized for your birds: chick grit for youngsters, standard grit for adults.

Treats Without Unbalancing the Diet

Scratch grains (mixed and cracked grains) are fun to scatter on a cold afternoon, but they're low in protein and were never meant to be dinner. Treats sold for poultry, such as dried mealworms, are popular during the molt and for taming shy birds. A common rule of thumb among keepers is to keep all treats to a small handful, so the complete feed still makes up the great majority of what the flock eats.

Kitchen scraps are not treats. In the UK and the EU it is illegal to feed kitchen or catering waste to poultry, pets included, whether it's meat or vegetable. Other countries restrict it too. The reason is disease: food waste can carry viruses that devastate pigs and poultry. If you're unsure whether something is allowed, ask your national animal health authority.

Water and Storage

Hens drink more than people expect, especially in hot weather and while laying. Keep clean water available at all times, out of direct sun in summer, and plan for freezing nights (see waterers that don't freeze).

Store feed in a metal bin with a tight lid, somewhere dry. Damp feed grows mold, and an open bag invites rats. Use feed before its date, and buy amounts your flock will finish in a few weeks.