I don’t remember what the packaging said, but I think I’ve fed Chick Started to hens longer than 3 weeks? Can’t remember. And, yes. Egg production goes hand in hand with hours of daylight. I used to compensate for that by buying Buff Orpingtons and other breeds that lay through winter months.
We also had electricity to our coop, so we had shop lights in there and kept them on all the time once Fall hit, and I also had a radio going on Talk Radio and that helped somewhat with predators as they heard human voices and stayed away.
However, my chickens were very opinionated and quoted Rush Limbaugh to me all the time. ;)
Oh, the instructions on the “Chick Starter” we feed to the chicks instruct it’s use until they begin laying(!), and we usually go with it as the chicks’ primary food for at least 2 months, then taper it off slowly. However, we usually supplement w/ scraps after a couple weeks (from purchase)to add fruits & veggies, and esp. meat / fish protein & fats. In cool weather we feed them some scratch grains too. The scraps are “free” at this point, of course - another modest factor.
Layer pellets taper in after 4 months or so (depending a little on breed). Once we let pullets free range roam with the other birds, they have access to the layer pellets.
Whether all that is “right”, I don’t know - it seems to work for us. It also gives me an excuse to get out and catch a few extra fish. Esp. with smallish bluegill out of overpopulated ponds, often I just boil ‘em and give them to the chickens. Until these Buckeyes, they all love the fish!
Anyway, since my earlier post, after mixing scratch grains in with the chick starter in repeated small batches into the feeder, the Buckeyes are finally eating that. Bread crumbs in the 1/8” size range, ditto. Chopped red grapes, too. The chopped grapes they really go for. But they toss and then scratch bits of cooked meat & fat or fish aside, ditto pieces of most anything larger. 1/10 of a slice of wheat bread? Forget it. It’s not a matter of the Buckeyes starving, it’s just weird because I’ve never seen any chicks not eat fresh scraps, not destroy and eat bread chunks, etc., fairly readily. Even garden worms these Buckeye turn up their noses, er, beaks at. Most chicks go nuts over worms.
I guess we’ll just keep trying. (Rolling eyes emoticon needed.)
As for the rest:
Breeds - The Buckeyes should be good winter layers, though that’s some time off, and I read the ISA Browns are sometimes fairly good winter layers. Our Australorp is busy being Mom to a hatchling right now, a couple other winter layers turned out to be different breeds than what the store said (Got a sapphire Easter Egger out of that deal!) So, I’ll give the other birds some extra light - maybe 4 hours a night, and see how it goes. I have a dusk to dawn timer with other settings (goes 2/4/6/8 hours after sunset also) all set up now. I don’t want to “burn out” the hens - just get 2-3 eggs a week out of them. Total non-producers are going to be soup...
We have electricity to all the coops - I just made it “permanent” to all but the one for older chicks or those with hen Mom’s (ie., we hatched out the chicks here), which will happen soon too. (That coop needs a 50’ run underground - the trench is half dug.) I also added semi-permanent timed lighting to all, too, this last week. One coop has a heater I made up with a high voltage industrial quartz heater element (now runs at lower power on 120 AC) and an old shop light whose ballast had failed. This allows heat with no light, when desired, and that quartz element should last about 50 years at this power level! (I got tired of buying heat lamp bulbs.)
The quartz element itself comes enclosed in a compact fixture, sort of a 1 ft. long narrow stainless steel and glass “box” with the wires running out, and mounting bolts integral— very nice. Ebay deal. A shielded thermostat in the coop regulates it. So... the coop looks kinda “hillbilly” and the heater setup looks like it’d cost $300+ from a farm supply store, IF they even had something that nice!
Now the radio — that’s a great idea! I have an extra that would work fine. The only problem is that most overnight talk radio here is Art Bell. Will the chickens become psychotic? Attract aliens? ;-)