I have 4 hens and a rooster that are three months old. A friend of mine said to never feed the rooster the same food as the laying hens because it has amphetimines in it to keep the hens awake, thus laying more, and will kill the rooster if he eats it. Our feed store said it won't hurt him, but we should feed him scratch and not laying hen feed. Is it too early to start the hens on laying feed? I read another thread that suggested feeding them chick food until 6 months old. Thanks for any help :)

Jeff,
Your friend is pulling your leg! It's true that laying hens need 14 hrs min/day of light to keep laying through the winter, but I assure you the light is all they need to stay awake. You shouldn't start your pullets on layer ration until they are around 22 weeks old (5 1/2 months) or earlier if they happen to start laying before then. Gradually change from starter/grower to layer ration by 6 mos. old. Layer ration is not ideal for your rooster as it contains extra calcium for the hens to make strong egg shells, but it won't harm him. I don't keep roosters with my hens unless I'm ready to raise chicks and need fertile eggs. If you do keep your rooster separate, you should feed him a breeder ration or even a gamebird breeder ration NOT just scratch feed. Scratch feed is not a complete feed and won't provide all the protein, vitamins and minerals a chicken needs (even says so on the bag) but can be used as a little treat now and then (they love it). Think of it as chicken "junk" food. Try this website for good scientific information on all aspects of raising poultry:

http://home.earthlink.net/~manzanovalph/cyberlibrary.html

Good luck!

I got a feed called 'finisher' for feeding my 7 week old chicks as a interim between starter and layer. what is this? Haven't seen it mentioned on the board yet?

Mamachick (we meet again!): Finisher is for fattening up poultry before they are "processed". It's the equivalent of putting steer into feedlots before they go to slaughter. It is generally a high carbohydrate mixture (corn) that will fatten up and fill out the chickens.

I've got a mixed flock, Australorps and Buffs, 1 Aracauna, 1 Patridge Rock and 1 "mystery chicken" (the last three are my daughter's chickens and my "free rare and exotic chick"). 20 of these birds (Buffs and Australorps) are going to be chicken dinners, and 8 of which are going to be my layers and rooster. I took them off the starter feed (they are 9-1/2 weeks) and put them on "All-In-One" feed 18% protein. Should I be feeding them a finisher instead, to fatten them up quicker? I don't want to mess up the layers, as I'm more concerned with their development than the eating chickens. I've been told that it's not good to keep laying pullets on a too high protein diet, for fear of causing injury to their reproductive systems (also says so in my book). What is your opinion/experience on this, experienced chicken folks?

Chickenmom: I would keep them on the all-in-one until the you process the your meat birds, then you could switch to a mix more suitable for layers. I don't think that a couple months of 18% will do damage to your layers - don't forget to look at the other things they eat. Do they range? If you allow the layers to range, you will decrease the overall amount of protein they consume.
Finisher is a personal choice - it seems to be used more often by people who will be selling their birds for processing. The corn makes the skin an appealing yellow color - but it does add weight - in fat and in muscle.

Thanks Tigger and others for the great info. We got our first egg today! :)