A soft shelled egg???

[Cindy in PA]

Most avoid layer feed simply because it is more costly just for added calcium, often lacks in protein, and can cause delayed development, liver failure, etc in non-laying birds. I switched off it and never gone back since. If you have thin shells try letting your birds forage. It fixes everything and creates beautiful bright yolks.

Layer feed is cheaper than grower or all flock in most cases. More protein, more dollars. They don't charge more for calcium. That is what I find amusing when people want to cut costs & are told to by a higher protein feed. Layer is usually not just 16%, especially my locally made feed. It is actually 16.8%, but 16% is used on the label. Chickens actually only need 14-15% to lay. No one is saying to feed layer to young birds. It is just the past few years this board has gone crazy on the higher protein while screaming, I need to save money! Foraging will not help in the winter! I used to free range back from 1993-2004. Not able to anymore since a development went in behind me. Not everyone can free range! I noticed a big difference in 2004 when the feeds started to go vegetarian. No way am I paying more for a 20% feed that is loaded with soy. Once birds are mature, I see no problem feeding layers to them all. Just look at Feather Fixer that is to be given during molt. That has as much calcium in it as layer feed. Chickens are NOT that complicated! Just saying.

 

[Welshies]

Layer feed is cheaper than grower or all flock in most cases. More protein, more dollars. They don't charge more for calcium. That is what I find amusing when people want to cut costs & are told to by a higher protein feed. Layer is usually not just 16%, especially my locally made feed. It is actually 16.8%, but 16% is used on the label. Chickens actually only need 14-15% to lay. No one is saying to feed layer to young birds. It is just the past few years this board has gone crazy on the higher protein while screaming, I need to save money! Foraging will not help in the winter! I used to free range back from 1993-2004. Not able to anymore since a development went in behind me. Not everyone can free range! I noticed a big difference in 2004 when the feeds started to go vegetarian. No way am I paying more for a 20% feed that is loaded with soy. Once birds are mature, I see no problem feeding layers to them all. Just look at Feather Fixer that is to be given during molt. That has as much calcium in it as layer feed. Chickens are NOT that complicated! Just saying.

Chickens do best on an 18-22% feed, yes they can lay on 14-15% but many problems arise. They survive, of course, but they don't thrive. Higher protein is better, and actually causes increased egg production as well as increased feather quality, with better feed conversion and heavier and larger eggs. Not all "all flock" or "maintenance" feeds are vegetarian- and in fact, I don't use vegetarian feeds, because chickens are omnivores. You are lumping non-lay feeds together, when in fact, you don't need to. There are many types of vegetable protein and animal protein.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I have a 50 lb bag, ive just been throwing it in with their crumble.

You can feed whatever you like. Some have no problem with layer.

I don’t feed layer because I have roosters and young chicks all the time chicken math lol

I’d offer oyster shell in a separate dish. Could you get some chicken vitamins with D to add to their water? It seemed to help my OE get hard shells. She laid shell less eggs for 2 weeks and someone on here suggested it. It worked within a few days. Hope she lays some normal eggs for you soon!

I agree with @AlleysChicks What you feed it totally up to you.
New layers often have "glitches" while they are working everything out. Offer the oyster shell in a separate dish, the vitamins once a week won't hurt either.

With her dropping the egg during roosting, she is still working on her laying cycle. IF she continues to have problems, then look at a few other things - see that she is eating/drinking well (not being kept from food), not being bullied, that there are no disturbances within the flock (stress/upset) and that she has no parasites (worms/lice/mites).

We all have our preferences in feed and love to make suggestions and give opinions of what works for us. The key is to make sure that what you are giving is a nutritionally balanced poultry feed that is appropriate for the age of chickens you have. Layer feed is cheaper and many people use that with no problems at all. Some problems do arise, regardless of what type of feed used, if nutrition is diluted with too many treats. A good rule to go by is to limit treats to no more than 5-10% of daily intake for chickens confined to coop/run.

Personally, I do feed Flock Raiser - it is more expensive than layer feed. Like @AlleysChicks I don't want to have to buy different feed for different age groups - makes feeding easy for me.

Just my thoughts, let us know how she is doing today

 

[Welshies]

I agree with @AlleysChicks What you feed it totally up to you.
New layers often have "glitches" while they are working everything out. Offer the oyster shell in a separate dish, the vitamins once a week won't hurt either.

With her dropping the egg during roosting, she is still working on her laying cycle. IF she continues to have problems, then look at a few other things - see that she is eating/drinking well (not being kept from food), not being bullied, that there are no disturbances within the flock (stress/upset) and that she has no parasites (worms/lice/mites).

We all have our preferences in feed and love to make suggestions and give opinions of what works for us. The key is to make sure that what you are giving is a nutritionally balanced poultry feed that is appropriate for the age of chickens you have. Layer feed is cheaper and many people use that with no problems at all. Some problems do arise, regardless of what type of feed used, if nutrition is diluted with too many treats. A good rule to go by is to limit treats to no more than 5-10% of daily intake for chickens confined to coop/run.

Personally, I do feed Flock Raiser - it is more expensive than layer feed. Like @AlleysChicks I don't want to have to buy different feed for different age groups - makes feeding easy for me.

Just my thoughts, let us know how she is doing today

Agreed. Different things work for different flocks!

 

[Cindy in PA]

Never had a problem with egg laying or condition with a really good 16% feed. Most groups of layers have given me 5-6 eggs a week per bird over the years. There is no animal protein feed of any kind here, except my local layer mash & Scratch & Peck that the one feed store carries. Purina Gamebird even went all vegetarian at my feed store several years ago, so please don't tell me that there are feeds with animal protein in them, as it depends on your area! I used to feed flight conditioner 19% until they took out the animal protein. Even our local FM Brown's mill has closed to the public & started marketing little bags of vegetarian layer on the internet. Their feed used to have animal protein. I see no reason to add more soy to my birds by upping the protein to flock raiser. Flock raiser is only available in crumbles here anymore also, so I may as well deal with the local mash. So I agree, everyone's flock is different, but the drum beat of feeding the all flock feeds gets really old.

 

[Welshies]

Never had a problem with egg laying or condition with a really good 16% feed. Most groups of layers have given me 5-6 eggs a week per bird over the years. There is no animal protein feed of any kind here, except my local layer mash & Scratch & Peck that the one feed store carries. Purina Gamebird even went all vegetarian at my feed store several years ago, so please don't tell me that there are feeds with animal protein in them, as it depends on your area! I used to feed flight conditioner 19% until they took out the animal protein. Even our local FM Brown's mill has closed to the public & started marketing little bags of vegetarian layer on the internet. Their feed used to have animal protein. I see no reason to add more soy to my birds by upping the protein to flock raiser. Flock raiser is only available in crumbles here anymore also, so I may as well deal with the local mash. So I agree, everyone's flock is different, but the drum beat of feeding the all flock feeds gets really old.

There are other feeds like grower and maintenance feeds that are relatively easy to find. You could also order online, or add animal proteins to your layer mix to reduce the calcium percentage and up the protein levels. Just a suggestion

 

[Cindy in PA]

There are other feeds like grower and maintenance feeds that are relatively easy to find. You could also order online, or add animal proteins to your layer mix to reduce the calcium percentage and up the protein levels. Just a suggestion

There are NO maintenance or grower feeds here that have animal protein or that are pellets. Ordering online is crazy. Paying double for a small amount is not happening! I live in farm country. I also live where Purina has a strangle hold. Purina came in with their "organic" feed & pushed out Nature's Best in some feed stores. I can only buy it at TSC. I can drive 50-75 miles to get other feeds, maybe. I just am going to do what many here do & use the local soy free mash or regular mash. It just is not as easy as some believe to find any feed with animal protein. I do add meat & soldier fly larva among other things. It would be just too simple to have one feed at 20% with animal protein! Most things are marketed to the chicken diapering crowd. In the last 25 years, finding a good feed has gotten harder. That is all I am trying to say.

 

[Welshies]

There are NO maintenance or grower feeds here that have animal protein or that are pellets. Ordering online is crazy. Paying double for a small amount is not happening! I live in farm country. I also live where Purina has a strangle hold. Purina came in with their "organic" feed & pushed out Nature's Best in some feed stores. I can only buy it at TSC. I can drive 50-75 miles to get other feeds, maybe. I just am going to do what many here do & use the local soy free mash or regular mash. It just is not as easy as some believe to find any feed with animal protein. I do add meat & soldier fly larva among other things. It would be just too simple to have one feed at 20% with animal protein! Most things are marketed to the chicken diapering crowd. In the last 25 years, finding a good feed has gotten harder. That is all I am trying to say.

And I totally agree, but there are ways around it! Fish meal, and bone meal, are fairly easy to find in large quantities.

 

[Tgallaher1]

For the record, my Olive Egger has layed two normal eggs since in the laying box.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

For the record, my Olive Egger has layed two normal eggs since in the laying box.

That's great news! It sounds like she's wokred out the kinks. Having a funky egg here and there with a new layer is normal.

When to worry is if they become lethargic, seem really "off" (you will know) and stop eating.

I hope all continues to go well and she lays beautiful eggs for years to come