I don’t know what protein level you are talking about. 16% protein in Layer is pretty common, but some members say they can get an 18% protein Layer. I wonder if they are talking about a special feed they get from a mill? I did find one 18% Layer with Google but they quit making that a while back. So I’ll assume you are talking about 16% protein Layer. That’s what I see at
Tractor Supply.
My opinion. Layer feed is formulated for the egg laying industry. The hybrid commercial laying hens have relatively small bodies and have been bred to be really efficient at converting feed to eggs. They don’t have big bodies so they don’t need extra protein to maintain those big bodies.
The hybrid commercial layers generally lay Grade A Large eggs relative to body size based on what they eat. Extra protein would be detrimental to those chickens’ health because higher protein would mean the eggs are even larger. The larger eggs could lead to those small-bodied hens being egg bound or maybe cause prolapse.
Feeding high levels of protein can cause a hen to release extra yolks instead of the normal one at a time, especially with those hybrid laying hens. This would lead to more double yolked eggs if the yolks are released at the same time. This could lead to soft-shelled or otherwise less desired eggs if the yolks are released at different times so she lays two eggs that day. The hen’s body normally makes enough materials to create one egg a day. For example, if a hen uses her daily allotment of shell material on her first egg for the day, there isn’t enough shell material left to cover the second egg. If two eggs are in the shell gland at the same time, this can lead to marks on the egg that make them not suitable to go to a supermarket for sell to consumers. Not only does this endanger the hen’s health there isn’t much of a market for these weird eggs even if they don’t break and cause a mess that can contaminate other eggs or be a pain to clean up. Many of the weird eggs they get are sold to bakeries or such places at a reduced cost for use as broken eggs. It’s more profitable if those eggs go to supermarkets.
Layer feed is formulated to provide all they need if Layer is all they eat. When you start feeding treats you upset that balance. That could be protein of any of all the other nutrients they need to maintain health and production. That’s why you often see the recommendation that treats should not be more than 10% of their daily diet. That allows the nutrient levels to remain in the range where they need to be. People like to fixate on protein levels but a balanced diet is about a lot more than just protein.
In my opinion most of our chickens don’t need the extra protein as long as we don’t feed them a lot of low protein treats. The commercial operations for egg and meat production use hybrids especially bred to convert feed to eggs or meat very efficiently and have determined the exact amount of protein and other nutrients they need to maximize production. Overfeeding those hybrids can lead to to an increase in medical problems or other undesirable effects. Underfeeding them can lead to them being less productive.
In general our chickens are not that finely tuned. They can do quite well on less or more protein. They can generally maintain their bodies quite well if they eat a bit less protein, but the eggs may not be quite as large. If they eat a bit more than what is optimum for those laying hybrids their bigger bodies can handle it. They can handle a range of protein levels (along with other nutrients) and do quite well. That’s why the 10% rule-of-thumb on treats. If you feed a low protein treat, that drop is within they acceptable range. If you feed a high protein treat, that increase is within an acceptable range.
There are some exceptions. If you are raising chickens for show, you need to feed them a special diet with extra protein and other stuff. There are weight targets for show chickens that generally require bigger chickens than ours. They handle a lot of that by breeding but then they need to feed to that breeding. If you have always fed a high protein diet to your chickens, their bodies are tuned to that higher protein. If they are used to it, don’t change it, you might cause problems, not just medical but behavioral. Some people claim to resolve behavioral issues by increasing the protein content of their total daily diet. I haven’t seen that but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. We all manage them differently and there are many different possible causes of most behavioral issues. I can certainly see diet as one of those factors.
So, that's my thoughts.
