Buff orps laying, but EE's aren't

[junebuggena]

Awesome, thanks for this! I had started to save my egg shells to bake/grind up as a calcium supplement. Is that something you'd recommend, or just stick with the oyster shells?

The oyster shell lasts longer in the gizzard, so the calcium release is more gradual. They burn through eggshell sourced calcium in a matter of days. When I set out fresh oyster shell, they eat a bunch, but then they don't touch it again for weeks.

 

[Shaylynne]

How old are your EE's?  Next to my California Greys, my EE"s are my best layers.  Everyone else stopped before them early October and those still aren't laying while my older EE's stopped later molted and are already laying again. Mine have all started laying between five and six months old.
    Now that I've said that, those hatched last spring, only half have just started laying while I'm waiting for the others, perhaps because the days are still short and it was a late spring hatch.
    I'm also wondering if the father had an effect on this.  Oh, well, the rest should start soon.
  

Now that I double check, my EE's are 9 months old (same for the buff orps). I got them at the end of April 2016. They were great layers. I will definitely try the extra protein and hope that gets them back into the swing of things.

 

[Shaylynne]

The oyster shell lasts longer in the gizzard, so the calcium release is more gradual. They burn through eggshell sourced calcium in a matter of days. When I set out fresh oyster shell, they eat a bunch, but then they don't touch it again for weeks.

Great info, thanks!