Debate on food, free range and egg quality...

[Florida Bullfrog]

Not sure that egg size is a significant measurement, but at least you appear to have some evidence that it can be ruled it out as a possible benefit of free ranging. What would definitely be good measurements are analysis of the nutrients in the yolk (harder for the average person to do) and successful hatch rate (would be an interesting comparison).

It cuts the other way too. I could just as easily say it rules out egg size/weight as a possible benefit of keeping the birds cooped with a large feed supply, as the eggs don't come out any heavier with commercial feed than with free forage. It depends on how a person wants to spin it.

I can definitely taste the difference between my free range eggs and cooped eggs and see a difference in yolk coloration. Does that mean free range eggs are more nutritious? I don't know.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

It cuts the other way too. I could just as easily say it rules out egg size/weight as a possible benefit of keeping the birds cooped with a large feed supply, as the eggs don't come out any heavier with commercial feed than with free forage. It depends on how a person wants to spin it.

I can definitely taste the difference between my free range eggs and cooped eggs and see a difference in yolk coloration. Does that mean free range eggs are more nutritious? I don't know.

The science backs you, too.

In the studies I've read, the difference in average egg size and frequency of lay when you go from a 16% protein feed to a 20% protein feed with similar AA profiles is only a couple of percent, at best. Translated into numbers, average egg weight tends to increase about a gram+/- (3.5 HUNDREDTHS of an Ounce for those of us of the American persuasion), while a 1-3% increase in frequency is between 3 and 10 eggs, over the course of a year (for a very productive bird). There's some continued debate in the science as to the albumin/yolk ratio impact. Or at minimum, its both complicated and unclear to me. There isn't a clear trend in what I've read.

As to "more nutritious", that depends on how you define more nutritious, what you feed the caged birds, and what the free rangers are eating - and will take testing in any case.

"Maybe" is the only certain answer - though darker yolks are a sign of additional carotenoids, which is one way of measuring increased nutritional value, and firmer membranes is a sign of higher Threonine levels. But in either case, that's like picking one of the ten or fifteen things listed on the typical nutrition label and making a better/worse judgement based on only one of them.

 

[Vicker]

I have used (2) 100 ft rolls of Premier 1 electric poultry netting for many years. I don't always need to connect the charger. My flocks these days tend to run between 7-20. I offer free-choice layer pellets, scraps, garden trimmings and the grass, bugs and weeds they have at their disposal. Some days they barely touch the feed. When using a portable coop and this portable fencing, you can move them before they decimate one area. I don't have any way of testing the nutritional quality of the eggs, but I know what the chickens are eating. My neighbor with a static coop and run go through a lot more feed.

 

[Brystal]

I have four chickens and they were all supposed to be layers, but turns out I have a rooster. I have no way to separate them, so can my rooster eat layer food?

 

[TooCheep]

I have four chickens and they were all supposed to be layers, but turns out I have a rooster. I have no way to separate them, so can my rooster eat layer food?

Generally, the better answer in this case is to offer flock feed with oyster shell on the side for the hens. Layer feed provides too much calcium for non-layers.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I have four chickens and they were all supposed to be layers, but turns out I have a rooster. I have no way to separate them, so can my rooster eat layer food?

I don't recommend it. Overtime calcium buildup in your rooster doing considerable damage to its internal organs also contributes to gout and can result in deformities to the bones. It is also associated with very minor reductions in feed efficiency, the kind of thing you will never notice with a flock of just four birds.

That said, calcium toxicity is a progressive disease. How fast it affects your bird depends on its size it's breed, it's age oh, the amount of excess calcium consumed daily, and the duration of the excess calcium intake. If you don't plan on keeping your bird long, say it's intended for the table, then chances are very very good you will eat the rooster long before the signs of calcium toxicity are evident.

How quickly and how severely you are bird is affected does not reduce to an easy formula. Too many variables, too poorly understood. It's like smoking, no one can tell you that a particular cigarette will give you a particular cancer. But they can say with confidence that if you smoke enough long enough, often enough, you will almost certainly get some kind of cancer.

Best I can offer you is anecdotes from my own flock.. My roosters get about twice as much calcium as desired due to the feed I have mixed up, which is a pretty basic 16% protein layer type mix combined with a 24% protein game bird type mix with much lower calcium, end result about 2.8% calcium on average. When I cull a young rooster, there is no evidence of calcium buildup externally and none I can find internally. When I call a rooster at about 1 year of age, sometimes I can find very minor internal evidence. I have yet to call a rooster closer to 2 years of age and take photos for comparison.

I definitely would not feed bullets a layer feed type formulation however. Very young birds are very sensitive to excess calcium levels.

 

[Brystal]

I don't recommend it. Overtime calcium buildup in your rooster doing considerable damage to its internal organs also contributes to gout and can result in deformities to the bones. It is also associated with very minor reductions in feed efficiency, the kind of thing you will never notice with a flock of just four birds.

That said, calcium toxicity is a progressive disease. How fast it affects your bird depends on its size it's breed, it's age oh, the amount of excess calcium consumed daily, and the duration of the excess calcium intake. If you don't plan on keeping your bird long, say it's intended for the table, then chances are very very good you will eat the rooster long before the signs of calcium toxicity are evident.

How quickly and how severely you are bird is affected does not reduce to an easy formula. Too many variables, too poorly understood. It's like smoking, no one can tell you that a particular cigarette will give you a particular cancer. But they can say with confidence that if you smoke enough long enough, often enough, you will almost certainly get some kind of cancer.

Best I can offer you is anecdotes from my own flock.. My roosters get about twice as much calcium as desired due to the feed I have mixed up, which is a pretty basic 16% protein layer type mix combined with a 24% protein game bird type mix with much lower calcium, end result about 2.8% calcium on average. When I cull a young rooster, there is no evidence of calcium buildup externally and none I can find internally. When I call a rooster at about 1 year of age, sometimes I can find very minor internal evidence. I have yet to call a rooster closer to 2 years of age and take photos for comparison.

I definitely would not feed bullets a layer feed type formulation however. Very young birds are very sensitive to excess calcium levels.

So what should I do?

 

[3KillerBs]

So what should I do?

Even adults can eat the chick feed if you want to feed that. Just give the layers oystershell on the side.

Or put all the birds on an all-flock feed -- with oystershell on the side for the layers.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So what should I do?

I and others will recommend that you feed your birds and all flock type feed. Loosely 18 to 20% protein and one to 1.5% calcium. It's easy for you, and good nutrition for them. Be sure to keep some oyster shell available for them in a separate dish oh, and of course plenty of fresh clean water at all times.

 

[Brystal]

I and others will recommend that you feed your birds and all flock type feed. Loosely 18 to 20% protein and one to 1.5% calcium. It's easy for you, and good nutrition for them. Be sure to keep some oyster shell available for them in a separate dish oh, and of course plenty of fresh clean water at all times.

Ok thank you!