Chicken struggles to lay

[Cargar]

My problem initially was they were not interested in the poultry feed or the laying feed at all. I put it out for them and they literally ignored it so it just ended up feeding the pigeons. At the moment I take it out to them a couple of times a day and they peck a bit at it then go back to foraging in the garden and I take it away. I was worried they weren't getting enough nutrition so started offering the other stuff, they especially like the greens. We are thinking of building a run around their coop now though so if they are hungry they'll have to eat their feed which I then can keep away from the wild birds. In the meantime, I guess I'll just hope that the little chicken will grow out of the painful laying. It isn't pleasant for her but she returns to normal as soon as the laying torture is over.

 

[Cargar]

Okay, a follow up. I've investigated this a little more and I just don't think it can be a calcium problem? All the chickens lay beautiful eggs with very hard shells and perfect looking, except for my biggest chicken that sometimes has a few small spots of calcium on the shell (which seems to mean she's getting more than enough from the posts I've read). The little chicken (Wyvern) still struggles to lay at least once a week though her behavior is fine before and after the actual laying. When she struggles to lay the other chickens just completely freak out which is one of the reasons I worry a bit, like maybe they know something I don't?
Even though I don't think it's a calcium issue, I can't find oyster shell where I live so I've taken their egg shells and ground them up so they aren't recognizable and mix them in with the laying feed and they've been eating that but she's still struggling. Any other suggestions? I am worried she will get egg bound at some point.

 

[aart]

My problem initially was they were not interested in the poultry feed or the laying feed at all.

It's overall nutrition you need to look at.
Still not sure what this 'poultry feed' is...or why they weren't eating it.
But if only one bird is having problems, then it may not be the diet but that one birds physiology. Which actually could be traced back to poor nutrition as it grew?

 

[Cargar]

There are two kinds of feed for chickens at our local feedstore and I buy both. One is laying feed which are the pellets for your laying hens, this has all the nutrition they need but they don't really like it, I have to grind it up and mix it with kiefer to get them to eat it which I do once a day. If I leave it out without mixing it up they ignore it and the pigeons eat it so I guess their nests are full of eggs. The other feed is just regular poultry feed which has corn, oats, various grains and seeds and which they also have available all day and which they also pretty much ignore to just free range in the garden. My only idea at this point is to enclose them in a covered run that we'd have to build around their coop and leave them in there most of the day with the food they are supposed to eat otherwise I don't know how to get them to eat it.
They seem perfectly healthy, they drink plenty of fresh water, they are all laying nicely now, 5-6 eggs a week each and they are beautiful perfect eggs. They are friendly, inquisitive and even the pecking order seems to have calmed down so it doesn't seem as if they are fighting for food. The only issue is that they seem to be super picky eaters and that the smallest gal struggles to lay but maybe she is just small.