Does free range = fewer eggs?

[xjonesy]

I have 6 18-week old chickens...I'm getting excited for them to start laying eggs. However, everytime I go to my local country store (IFA) to buy feed them keep telling me the chickens must eat their special protein feed to produce eggs. My chickens roam my backyard pecking mostly at grass, weeds, and bugs...and I give them a lot of scraps from our kitchen like rice, watermelon, etc.

Does all this non-feed food potentially decrease my chickens egg production? Should I keep them locked up in the coop and run and force them to eat the protein feed to give me more eggs? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me...

 

[saddina]

I'm going to gently suggest that it's the job of the feed store to um.... sell you more feed. Make sure you offer extra calicum, for egg shells, and let them select thier diet, If they're like my hens, you won't have very many slugs or spiders or beetles left.

 

[gritsar]

The only way free ranging could cause a "decrease" in eggs is if your hens are hiding the eggs outside.
Up until recently I was averaging 11 eggs daily out of 13 free range hens. It's now dropped to an average of 9 eggs a day, but it's hotter than the blazes here and my girls are due for a moult soon.
According to an ongoing study by Mother Earth News, free range eggs have:

•1/3 less cholesterol
•1/4 less saturated fat
•2/3 more vitamin A
•Two times more omega-3 fatty acids
•Three times more vitamin E
•Seven times more beta carotene

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/Health-Benefits-Free-Range-Eggs.aspx

I'll take my free range eggs over "caged" eggs any day.

 

[hikerchick]

It doesn't decrease eggs, it just makes them harder to find.


Every day is an easter egg hunt at my house

 

[MIKE555444]

If you are feeding the proper prescribed layers feed then I would guess it might be hard to beat in egg production if that is your only concern. Only thing about free range is you have no control over what they eat. I am thinking it could decrease the egg production IF what they are eating is not nutritious. For example if the majority of their diet was corn then I’m not sure that would produce a large amount of eggs.

HOWEVER it is another question if you are asking about quality... You may get a higher quality eggs by free ranging but that may not necessarily mean you will be getter more eggs.

I'll take quality of quantity any day

 

[Judy]

As far as I can tell, my four free rangers always lay in the coop. They are in and out of it all day. They don't usually go further than about 100 yards that I know of (they can go as far as they want.) I get two or three eggs most days, and one of them is broody or raising chicks about half the time; when not, I often get 4.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

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[ranchhand]

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Me too! Though I did find a regular nest spot today- they gave it away because they were standing in line!