Chick, grower or layer feed: what your chicks need, and when they can go outside

🐥 The short version

Starter first, grower next, layer feed only when they're about to lay.

Chick starter from hatch, grower from around six weeks, and layer feed from about 18 to 20 weeks or the first egg, whichever comes first. The feeds differ most in protein and in calcium, and the extra calcium in layer feed is for making eggshells, which a growing chick isn't doing.

Starter is sometimes medicated and sometimes isn't. Both are a legitimate choice, but they ask different things of you. If you choose unmedicated, the job moves from the feed bag to the litter: keep it dry, don't crowd, and know the signs before you need them.

🌾 The stages

The three feeds, and what each is for.

The stages below are from Oregon State University Extension's guide to feeding laying hens. Feed labels vary by brand and the ages are a guide, not a clock. Slow-growing breeds and bantams can be a little behind.

• Starter (hatch to about 6 weeks): around 18 to 20 percent protein. It's built for fast early growth.
• Grower (about 6 weeks until laying): around 15 to 16 percent protein. Some brands sell a "developer" feed from about 14 weeks, at 14 to 15 percent. OSU says the two are close to interchangeable.
• Layer (from about 18 to 20 weeks, or the first egg): around 16 percent protein and 3 to 4 percent calcium. The extra calcium is what lays down strong shells and protects the hen's own bones.

Each stage tapers the protein down and, at the end, adds the calcium. Moving on a week or two early or late won't hurt. The thing to avoid is moving the calcium forward.

⚠️ The common mistake

Why not layer feed for everyone?

It's tempting to buy one bag and feed the whole yard. For chicks and growers it's the wrong bag. Layer feed is formulated for birds that are laying, with 3 to 4 percent calcium, and a growing chick is not making eggshells. Starter and grower feeds have the protein young birds need and none of the extra calcium.

If you'd like the fuller picture of what chickens need at every age, our chicken feed and nutrition guide covers it. This guide is about the first 20 weeks.

🧪 Medicated or not

Raising chicks without medicated feed.

Some chick starter is medicated with a coccidiostat to hold coccidiosis back, a gut parasite that lives in the ground wherever chickens have been. Grower and layer feeds are typically not medicated. Unmedicated starter is widely sold too, and plenty of keepers prefer it.

What the sources say, so you can weigh it for yourself:

• The case for unmedicated. Penn State Extension says medication given too early or too often can interfere with the chick building its own immunity, and doesn't recommend medicated feed in the first 14 days. Chicks that meet small amounts of the parasite as they grow can build up protection.
• The case for medicated. OSU Extension says mortality in young chicks on non-medicated feed may rise to unacceptable levels, and leaves the call to the keeper. A New Zealand poultry-supply page recommends medicated starter from day one, or a low-level coccidiostat crumb for young stock.
• Vaccination. Coccidiosis vaccines are given at the hatchery on the day of hatch, so chicks hatched in your own incubator or by a broody hen aren't vaccinated. Penn State notes most backyard chickens aren't.

Neither approach promises a strong flock by itself. What builds one over the years is keeping the birds that thrive, and you can only do that if you know which ones they were. Record what you hatched, what you lost and when.

🔎 What to watch for

Coccidiosis: what to watch for.

Coccidiosis is caused by a microscopic parasite that lives in the gut, and the chicks pick it up from droppings. A New Zealand poultry-supply page says trouble can start from about three weeks of age, with the danger zone roughly 3 to 7 weeks, and it can show up later. Chicks that hatched on 16 October are still under two weeks old, so the window is ahead of them and now is when to get ready.

Where it lives, and how it spreads. The parasite (Eimeria) multiplies in the lining of a bird's gut. Infected birds shed its eggs, called oocysts, in their droppings, and chickens catch it by pecking them up from the ground or the litter (NCAT). Adult birds that look perfectly healthy can shed it and pass it to younger ones (UC Agriculture and Natural Resources). So assume it is in any soil or litter that has had chickens on it.

Freshly shed oocysts aren't infectious yet. NCAT says they need about two days with warmth (around 22°C is best), air, and litter that is at least 20 percent moisture, which feels damp against the back of your hand. Once they have, they can stay infectious for months. NCAT cites one old study that found them viable in outdoor soil for up to 600 days. Freezing or very high temperatures kill them. That is why wet litter matters so much, and why dry litter is the main control.

They travel on boots, equipment, dust, insects and wild birds, as well as through feed, litter and soil. Chicken coccidia don't infect other livestock, and UC ANR says they don't infect people. There are several species in chickens, and immunity to one doesn't cover the others.

What about a freshly cleaned brooder indoors? It keeps the numbers down, and that is worth doing. It won't make the brooder free of the parasite, and it isn't meant to. NCAT says disinfectants aren't effective against coccidia, so the work is done by removing droppings and keeping litter dry. The chicks' own droppings start the cycle from the first days, and warm, damp litter finishes it. The aim is a small dose, not none. Both sources say moderate exposure is how a chick builds immunity, and NCAT warns that birds can meet too little to become immune or too much to cope with. UC ANR says chickens aren't fully immune until about 7 weeks.

The signs:

• Fluffed-up, hunched, drooping wings, cold feet.
• Off their feed, less active, standing apart from the others.
• Diarrhoea, sometimes with blood or orange mucus in the droppings.
• Pale, slow-growing chicks. Sudden deaths.

What helps, whichever feed you use:

• Keep the litter dry. Penn State says wet litter cakes, and birds then peck at it and take in more of the parasite. Thick, dry litter dilutes the droppings. Check around the drinkers every day, because that's where it gets wet first.
• Don't crowd them. Penn State recommends keeping unvaccinated birds at a low stocking density. Give them room as they grow.
• Keep feed and water off the floor, on a raised stand or hung, so they don't get droppings in them.
• Have a plan before you need one. The signs come on quickly and early treatment matters. Talk to your vet or your rural supplier now about what to keep on hand and what they'd advise for a bird this size. A vet can also confirm it with a droppings test, since other things look similar. This guide doesn't recommend a product or a dose.

🏡 Moving out

When can chicks go outside?

• Feathers first. Wait until they're fully feathered, typically around 5 to 6 weeks, because feathers are what let them keep themselves warm. Slow-feathering breeds can need the heat for an extra week or two.
• Step the heat down. Week one is about 32 to 35°C, then it comes down roughly 3°C a week. If they huddle under the heat, they're too cold. A heat plate is no longer needed once they're fully feathered, so the plate comes out before they do.
• Check the weather. Day and night should stay reliably above about 15°C. Where nights are cooler, the move waits or the coop needs a heat source.
• Move in stages. A few days shut in the coop first, then short supervised time in the run, longer each day. Block the nest boxes so the chicks don't sleep in them.
• Mind the wild birds. Avian influenza (H5N1) has been confirmed in a New Zealand wild bird, so keep the run covered and feed and water out of reach of wild birds. If you see 3 or more sick or dead wild birds in a group, report them to MPI on 0800 80 99 66.

Ages are counted from hatch, so a clutch hatched on 16 October is fully feathered between about 20 and 27 November.

🐔 Mixed ages

Mixed ages in one flock.

Once chicks join the older hens, there's one feeder and several life stages. OSU notes that an all-purpose feed may not have enough calcium for laying hens, so oyster shell may be needed for them. A common way round it is a lower-calcium feed for everyone, with shell grit in a separate container that only the laying hens use. Our feed and nutrition guide covers grit.

Where you can, keep the young birds apart until they're close to the hens in size. Adding them early, or all at once, is a common cause of bullying. Treat the first fortnight together like any new birds, and see our buying and quarantining new stock guide.

📲 Keeping track

Keeping track of it.

With a flock this young, what you write down now pays off for years. Worth recording:

• The hatch: the date, how many eggs went in, how many chicks came out.
• Losses: the date, the age and what you saw.
• Feed changes: the date you move from starter to grower, and grower to layer.
• Which birds thrive, so you know which ones to keep breeding from.

My Block Hand records a hatch against the batch, makes a new flock for the chicks, and keeps a loss log with the date and cause. Feed and egg records follow the flock from there.

🚧 Where this guide stops

What this guide cannot do for you.

This is general information for backyard and lifestyle-block poultry keepers, written from Northland. It doesn't recommend a feed brand, a medication or a dose, and it can't see your chicks. For a chick that's unwell, or any treatment for coccidiosis, talk to your vet.

📚 Further reading

Where the information on this page comes from.

• Oregon State University Extension — How to feed your laying hens (PNW 477): starter, grower, developer and layer stages, protein and calcium, when to switch, medicated and non-medicated feeds, and mixed flocks.
• Penn State Extension — Managing chicken coccidiosis in small flocks during summer: signs, wet litter, stocking density, medicated feed timing, vaccination and testing.
• Chooks.co.nz — What is coccidiosis?: a New Zealand supplier's guide to the age range at risk, signs and prevention. It's a retailer, so read it as practical advice, not a neutral study.
• NCAT (ATTRA) — Coccidiosis in poultry: where the parasite lives, how long it survives, what makes it infectious, how it spreads, and why disinfectants and dry litter matter.
• UC Agriculture and Natural Resources — Coccidiosis: transmission from healthy adult birds, species and immunity, and when chicks become immune.
• Dine a Chook — When can chicks be moved outside?: feathering at 5 to 6 weeks, brooder temperatures, outdoor temperature and moving in stages. An Australian retailer.
• MPI — Bird flu and protecting your birds: keeping wild birds away from your flock, and what to report.