Does Oyster Shell INCREASE Egg Size?

[Poulets De Cajun]

I have an aging black hen whom was having problems with her egg shells about a month ago. The small end would come out looking like sand paper, and I mean the rough grit sand paper. At that time they seemed to be rather small if I remember correctly.

I've been feeding free choice oyster shell for about a month now, and the "sand paper" texture of the eggs have greatly diminished. They are smooth all over now and are 100% better than what they were.

However this evening, I picked an egg out of the coop and it was nearly 3/4 the size of a standard egg. It filled almost my entire palm.

Can oystershell actually INCREASE the size of eggs laid by a hen?

 

[Chirpy]

I've never heard of that but I'm a relatively new chicken person so someone with far more experience than me will hopefully chime in and set the record straight.

My understanding is that oyster shell is solely to help with the needed calcium to give harder egg shells. That would help explain the shells 'looking' better as you described.

 

[dlhunicorn]

In general when there are problems , birds will lay smaller eggs or stop laying.
In general , the older the bird the larger the egg.
Birds will remove calcium from their own bones when the diet is deficient (a temporary solution as I am sure you can imagine) ... seems now the deficiency is addressed this older bird is starting to lay the size eggs she should have been laying all along.

 

[Alpha Roo]

Is there oyster shell in laying mash or should it be fed in addition to?

 

[dlhunicorn]

many things can disrupt calcium absorption which is why you should use a commercially formulated feed as a basis and think carefully what you give in addition to that (no, oystershell is not included but the basics are such as the correct ration of phosphorus to calcium and vit D3 >all of which are crucial to your bird actually absorbing the calcium) which is why you should always have some available in a separate feeder/bowl (IF they need they can eat it and if not they will leave it)

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Ive never heard that. But it does make the egg shells harder, and somewhere I read that it increases hatchability.