All Flock feed issue.

[Folly's place]

I haven't had issues with feeding Flock raiser, and have chicks, young birds, rooster, and older hens, so it's been best here.
Sometimes there's a thin shelled egg, or a wrinkled shell, but the older hens will produce those sometimes.
How about the really hot weather? That doesn't help egg production or egg quality.
I might feed differently is I had a flock of only high producing laying hens of the same age. Otherwise, no.
Mary

 

[aart]

All great points. I am not switching back to only layer feed. I’ll do a 50/50 mix until I have shell quality return. After that maybe I will change ratio according to what I see. I don’t believe that bringing some layer feed back into play will hurt anybody. Before I could tell you which one laid which egg. Now with 18 birds total 3 Roos 15 hens and 5 chicks. I am not as good at telling who did what now. Kinda nice having the Legbar a no brainer with the blue eggs. She is not currently laying she is doing a great job at raising 5 chicks.

But that might not be enough for the high production breeds tho.
So you've got 14 laying now...some are pullets and some are ~18 months old(which BTW are probably going to molt soon).
How many eggs do you get each day....and are all of them thin shelled?
Probably just from the older birds rather than the pullets?
Tossing some OS down on the ground will probably fix your thin shelled problem faster than adding some layer to the FR.

 

[RoosterML]

But that might not be enough for the high production breeds tho.
So you've got 14 laying now...some are pullets and some are ~18 months old(which BTW are probably going to molt soon).
How many eggs do you get each day....and are all of them thin shelled?
Probably just from the older birds rather than the pullets?
Tossing some OS down on the ground will probably fix your thin shelled problem faster than adding some layer to the FR.

I’ll toss some OS down.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I do a roughly 50/50 mix (layer pellets, grower mash) now that my birds are all old enough to lay, but not all are laying consistently. I figure that helps dilute the calcium a bit but still helps promote good shell quality with most of the birds. I don't have production breeds though.

When I have chicks/young pullets then everyone is on all flock crumble until they're close to point of lay.

 

[GC-Raptor]

I feed a 18/20% Non-Medicated Starter-Grower or a All-Flock/Flock Raiser feed after 10 weeks of age.
I introduced my recent Flock of Barred Rocks to Oyster Shells at 17 weeks in a separate container. .
They consumed it like a kid with a bag of candy.
This went on for 2 days. I actually posted it on here. The consumption fell off gradually after that.
After all were laying I started to mix Oyster Shells and Poultry Grit in the Scratch Grains, at a ratio of 40 to 1. 10 ounces each (by weight) of Shells and Grit for 25 pounds of Scratch. . I give the Scratch daily as a treat Scattered in their pen.
Most of my eggs require a double hit to crack. . The white eggs are fakes.
I do find the remains of a broken egg occasionally. Once or twice a month, but no more so than my first Flock of Golden Comets that were fed a 18% Protein Layers feed. GC

 

[21hens-incharge]

I found my birds did not like the oyster shell that looks like drywall crumbs.

I switched to Pacific pearl brand and my birds eat it willingly.

https://www.lindmarine.com/services-products/oyster-shell-calcium-for-poultry/

I feed all flock since I have several older and several low production breeds.
My 2 black sex links are doing very well on it.

 

[RoosterML]

Pullet eggs are fine. See photo as you can see calcium deposits on outside of shell. I also ate 2 pullet eggs this morning and very nice shells. I had one shell broken in box today as you can see evidence in the photo. There were some shells pieces in the box left that I could inspect and it was a thin shell. I think it is the production hens that are having an issue.

 

[aart]

See photo as you can see calcium deposits on outside of shell.

This?

Is it hard and rough when scraped with fingernail?
Pic is not real clear but looks like it could be bloom or sparse pigment coating.

 

[RoosterML]

This?
View attachment 1871001

Is it hard and rough when scraped with fingernail?
Pic is not real clear but looks like it could be bloom or sparse pigment coating.

It does feel a lot smoother compared to other excess calcium I have had on eggs. Long time ago.

 

[Ms Biddy]

I switch between layer pellets and all flock and sometimes mix them, depending on the time of year, how my birds look and how their eggs look. If I get any thin shelled eggs, I do throw a small handful of OS directly into their feeder and it helps. I've noticed some hens just don't eat enough of it when it's kept seperate.