➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Kiki]

I get it. I know they can handle high protein levels. Mealworms are treats, not most of their diet. We do not start feeding our chicks treats until they are over 11 weeks old just to ensure they have a stable complete diet, at 20%, they can get whatever else while they are free-ranging.

I apologize if I didn’t get that point across. I simply was stating that for a daily complete feed, I would rather be in that specified range, others may do what they please and feed whatever they want. I’m quite over this topic.

I do have a question however, we have a hen who has started laying shell-less eggs (pictures of last night’s egg at the bottom), and as you stated, calcium can be much more detrimental than protein. Would supplementing her calcium to help her shells come back lead to problems faster? We have given our Brahma hen calcium pills to help her shells but this is a langshan hen, and much lighter than the Brahma, and since calcium acts more like a fat-soluble vitamin we aren’t sure if it will cause more damage since she doesn’t have much fat on her.


We do that already with our current all flock feed. Though one of our hens we have noticed is laying shell-less eggs so we don’t think she’s eating the supplied oyster shells. Everyone else has nice firm shells except for her.

Laid last night after everyone was put away in the coop.
View attachment 1574455 View attachment 1574456

Have you had poop tested for worms recently, if not I think you should.

 

[NanaKat]

Yep. You could even use chicken wire over that.
Would cost less.

Cool. I already have chicken wire.

quail go thru regular chicken wire.
Use 1" or smaller grid wire...especially for babies. 1x2 is too large even for babies. The voice of experience

 

[NanaKat]

Looking at a solar powered generator ...cost $2000.

 

[R2elk]

I do have a question however, we have a hen who has started laying shell-less eggs (pictures of last night’s egg at the bottom), and as you stated, calcium can be much more detrimental than protein. Would supplementing her calcium to help her shells come back lead to problems faster? We have given our Brahma hen calcium pills to help her shells but this is a langshan hen, and much lighter than the Brahma, and since calcium acts more like a fat-soluble vitamin we aren’t sure if it will cause more damage since she doesn’t have much fat on her.

Three things can contribute to insufficient Calcium available for proper egg shells. One is a vitamin D deficiency which can cause insufficient absorption of Calcium into the body. Two is use of ACV in the water source especially during hot temperatures. ACV has been proven to be a cause of bone density loss in humans and can also interfere with proper absorption of Calcium. Number three is the failure of a hen to eat sufficient or no oyster shell when low Calcium feeds are used for layers. It is also possible that the particular hen has a genetic predisposition to be poor at Calcium absorption.

Make sure the hen laying the soft shelled eggs is getting vitamin D and Calcium supplements and no ACV. You can get a liquid Calcium supplement that can be added to her water in order to get her Calcium levels back up quickly. The liquid Calcium supplement is usually available in pet stores or on line.

For laying hens, a quality layer feed (usually around 4% Calcium) will not cause harm. In most areas layer feed will not cause harm to roosters but may cause harm in chicks, pre POL pullets and cockerels. In some high limestone areas layer feed may cause problems in adult roosters.

My point about the protein is that there are no commercially available feeds that have enough protein in them to do any harm so don't worry about what the protein levels are.

What people feed as treats (usually excessively) do far more harm to their poultry than anything else does.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Ok.
I've never dyed brown hair before.
I just know that blonde hair can turn orangey so I assumed brown hair can too.

I think the right word is brassy.
Where are our resident hair people?

Platinum blonde hair turns green in chlorinated swimming pools.

 

[The Farmers' Daughter]

Looking at a solar powered generator ...cost $2000.

Evidently they're not so great. We thought about getting one too. The solar guy I spoke with said that they're essentially a "snake oil" kinda thing.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Have you had poop tested for worms recently, if not I think you should.

We are clear.

Three things can contribute to insufficient Calcium available for proper egg shells. One is a vitamin D deficiency which can cause insufficient absorption of Calcium into the body. Two is use of ACV in the water source especially during hot temperatures. ACV has been proven to be a cause of bone density loss in humans and can also interfere with proper absorption of Calcium. Number three is the failure of a hen to eat sufficient or no oyster shell when low Calcium feeds are used for layers. It is also possible that the particular hen has a genetic predisposition to be poor at Calcium absorption.

Make sure the hen laying the soft shelled eggs is getting vitamin D and Calcium supplements and no ACV. You can get a liquid Calcium supplement that can be added to her water in order to get her Calcium levels back up quickly. The liquid Calcium supplement is usually available in pet stores or on line.

For laying hens, a quality layer feed (usually around 4% Calcium) will not cause harm. In most areas layer feed will not cause harm to roosters but may cause harm in chicks, pre POL pullets and cockerels. In some high limestone areas layer feed may cause problems in adult roosters.

I think it is more towards her not eating the supplied oyster shell since I’ve never seen her near the bowl let alone eat any. We don’t use ACV here, the “benefits” are too slim to really do much, and I did read about the bone density break down. The supplement we have had vitamin D in it as well. We have a large mixture of ages in our flock with most laying but several young non-layers so we do feed an all flock which isn’t good enough for our layers but we do have separate oyster shell for them. All of our other hens do have nice shells on their eggs, so either it is a genetic pre-disposition or she’s not eating the oyster shells.

I’ll give her the supplemental calcium over the next few days and report back on her shells.

My point about the protein is that there are no commercially available feeds that have enough protein in them to do any harm so don't worry about what the protein levels are.

What people feed as treats (usually excessively) do far more harm to their poultry than anything else does.

I understand that. For our flock the 18-20 works fine as they are all thick birds, the most concerning thing about the bag was more so how old it was than the content levels in all honesty. With how old the bag was, the protein content was probably much lower due to breakdown by any means. When molting comes around we give them extra protein than they usually get to help them.

Most show-bird feeds are higher than 24% protein, and those folks have nice healthy birds, for the most part.

There was a point in time where we went overboard with the treats, giving a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits plus mealworms and BOSS, plus whatever they get when free-ranging then I noticed how poorly the flock was getting because they were only eating the treats and not their complete feed. I went and read a ton on their needed nutrition values and re-adjusted their diets.

 

[Cyprus]

What are you wearing??

Halloween costume

 

[Cyprus]

I think it's called cos play.

It's called Halloween

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

He’s in such an awkward stage right now but he’s going to be such a gorgeous boy.