Am I starving my hens?

[DellaMyDarling]

I can't figure out if my girls are eating enough. Analysis please?

All my hens are laying ages, 18months to 4 years approximately. They free range dawn to dusk.
First few weeks I made sure to keep a small feeder of layer pellets out in the yard with the girls. These girls had never free ranged before we got them, so I wanted to ensure that familiar food was still available.

Spring rains and flappy hens, plus a sneaky dog, kept wasting a ton of pellets. So, I stopped placing a yard feeder and just made sure the big coop feeder is full. They have access 24/7.
Most days the girls get something yummy, like sad fridge lettuce, sad fruits, veggie ends, etc. Previous owner overfed my older 6 gals lots of scratch and table scraps. I do give scratch, just not every day now.
I had a small tin feeder of oyster shell and grit in the coop, but they appear to only think this is for covering in shavings. None of them have been eating this. Started to sprinkle some shell into the big feeder hoping they'd see it there and eat it. Not convinced they want it! I'll have to improve the offering plate? Haha.

Why am I worried? The big coop feeder doesn't appear to empty very quickly, hardly at all. If I take ANYTHING out to the yard, they'll come running, and devour it like they're starved. Scratch, pellets, scraps...

I don't know which blue egg hen, I have 3 I think, Ameracauna, is laying soft shelled eggs. We've had at least two over the past 5 weeks. Could be a different hen each time of course I suppose. Worried this was an indication of not enough calcium going into the hens (like, if they're being deprived of enough shell and laying pellets for example.)

 

[azygous]

Overall, you're doing a good job with your layers or they wouldn't be laying eggs. Proper nutrition is essential or you will not get eggs. It's pretty simple.

The soft-shell eggs are an indication your hens may be getting plenty to eat while free-ranging, but aren't eating enough layer feed to get the calcium they need. I would ration their free-range time as you ration their scratch and other treats so it doesn't dilute their proper feed intake. Also, beware of them getting too much spinach since it has oxalic acid that inhibits calcium uptake.

I would not mix the oyster shell in with the feed. While it can help the hens that are deficient in calcium, you risk having the hens that are getting plenty getting too much. Oyster shell needs to be free choice for this reason.

If this doesn't improve the occasional soft egg, you will need to identify which hens are deficient in calcium and treat them individually with a calcium supplement, usually calcium citrate or calcium gluconate since they are more easily absorbed that the calcium carbonate that is oyster shell.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

I agree with Azygous, however I have had a hen or 2 that had something wrong with their shell production no matter what they were fed. It was a birth defect and there was nothing I could do to fix it.

Yes, I would try the suggestion of limiting free ranging and see if that helps, but in case it doesn't, see if you can figure out the hen that's putting out these soft shelled eggs. It may be that there is something wrong with her that calcium won't fix.

 

[chickens really]

I limit free range time..Mine eat the feed and free range only a couple of hours a day.