16% vs 18% All Flock

[aart]

I use 32 oz salsa jars for oyster/egg shell and grit.
Both are stored in 1 liter bottles, easy to fill thru cut in front of jar.

 

[jthornton]

I use 32 oz salsa jars for oyster/egg shell and grit.
Both are stored in 1 liter bottles, easy to fill thru cut in front of jar.

Do you grind up the egg shell or do any other processing on the egg shells? I've been throwing the whole egg shell on the ground by my neighbors for her laying hens.

JT

 

[oldrooster]

Do you grind up the egg shell or do any other processing on the egg shells? I've been throwing the whole egg shell on the ground by my neighbors for her laying hens.
JT

I have heard it's best to rinse and dry them out some would argue over naturally or in an oven, but also crumble them up JUST IN CASE the hens get the bright idea to eat their eggs if they figure out they are eggs (at least at one time). it might be wasting time and effort but given the little time and effort your out and the chance you may have to cull a hen over that behavior if you can't break the habit then it's not worth the chance.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

You know, we keep hearing 18% protein for layer feed, and yet I keep seeing less than 18%, which confuses me. So is the idea that something in the 17% range is considered well enough within the ballpark and the rest can come from foraging insects?

 

[Sunshine Flock]

I toss their egg shells in a bowl under the sink and when it's full I crunch them down to no bigger than 1/4" with a mortar and pestle. It's fast work and even faster if you're able to remove the membrane.

I get more customers when the shells are crushed smaller like that. It's on par with the crushed oyster shells in term of size.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Commercial egg laying hens normally eat somewhere around a 16% protein feed, no treats, no forage, no nothing else. All they eat is that commercial 16% feed. It contains everything they need to stay healthy and produce nice commercial quality and sized eggs. If they fed them a higher protein diet the eggs would be larger which could cause medical problems from laying those larger eggs.

Chickens that forage for practically everything they eat may eat more or less that 16% protein even if you feed them a higher protein feed. You don’t control every bite that goes inside them, you just don’t know exactly what they are eating. It’s not what is in one bite, it’s how many grams or micrograms of calcium, protein, fats, fiber, minerals, vitamins, and other things they consume in an entire day, and even that is averaged over several days. If you are feeding a fair amount of fairly low protein treats you might need a slightly higher protein feed. If you are feeding a lot of high protein treats you probably aren’t gaining anything by feeding a higher protein feed. They can thrive even if they don’t get the precise micrograms of all the nutrients they need.

Some people eat a high protein diet, others eat a lower protein diet. In many cases people on the lower protein diets are extremely healthy. Chickens and humans can do quite well on different diets, high or low in certain nutrients, as long as you don’t get ridiculously out of balance in those nutrients.

Commercial chickens have fairly small bodies on purpose, they are bred that way. They don’t need a lot of protein or other nutrients to maintain that body like many of our chickens do. If you are raising your chickens for show you should be feeding them a fairly high protein diet so they grow big as show chickens should and so they can maintain those larger bodies.

Some of it is how they were raised. If your chickens have always eaten a high protein diet they probably need more protein than mine do. Their bodies have probably adjusted to it. Mine eat a fairly low protein base diet and forage for a lot of their food. I really don’t think they find that much extra high protein foods to eat, at least not consistently.

I see a lot of Layer feed that is 16% protein. A lot of people feed that, some feed nothing else, some add treats or let them forage. Those chickens do great. I see a lot of people on here that fixate on protein, protein, protein. You don’t love your chickens unless you feed them a lot of extra protein. In my opinion, unless you are raising specialized chickens that need a specialized diet like show chickens or meat chickens, you are splitting frog hairs worrying about the difference in 17% or 18% protein feeds, even if they don’t forage. The vast amount of our backyard flocks will do perfectly fine whether they get a 16% or 20% protein base feed, whether they forage or get treats or not.

 

[aart]

Do you grind up the egg shell or do any other processing on the egg shells? I've been throwing the whole egg shell on the ground by my neighbors for her laying hens.

JT

Any way you feed them is fine.
Feeding 'half shells' with no 'processing' is not going to 'make egg eaters'.
I prefer to rinse and let shells dry, then save them and crush in a makeshift mortar and pestle, then mix those in with oyster shells.

I feed a higher protein feed to balance out the other low protein 'treats' they get daily. A rough measure is about 16-19% protein.

 

[oldrooster]

Any way you feed them is fine.
Feeding 'half shells' with no 'processing' is not going to 'make egg eaters'.
I prefer to rinse and let shells dry, then save them and crush in a makeshift mortar and pestle, then mix those in with oyster shells.

I never said it would, nor did anyone else on this thread, I stated some people thought it might make them egg eaters, and i suggested it might be wise to rinse dry and crush them because of the very little effort it took to do it in case those whom believe it were correct. I wish you well since you apparently don't have a spare tire, jack jumper cables and cell phone when you drive your car since you rarely if ever need such while driving an automobile. lol

 

[aart]

I wish you well since you apparently don't have a spare tire, jack, jumper cables and cell phone when you drive your car since you rarely if ever need such while driving an automobile.

In fact I do, but not sure what that has to do with anything in this thread.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I have fed 18% feed from day old chicks and gradually switched to 18% layers feed at 16 weeks. All my girls were laying by 19 weeks, some started at 16 1/2 weeks.
I fed them 18% till they were about 15 months when I switched to a 16% protein for about 4 months. I was not happy with their appearance and egg production. They went through a partial molt and just seemed to be in limbo. Within a week or so of switching back to 18% their feathers were growing back.
They free range about 2 hours before sunset daily weather permitting about 9 months of the year. I also give them mixed seeds as a treat twice a day.
If they didn't free range or get scraps or treats, 16% protein may be fine.
I think 18 to 20% Protein is ideal for backyard chickens. My girls will never get less than 18% again. GC