How fast after a change of feed would a person see a change in egg quality?
I am an hour from a feed store and didn't have time to go last weekend. A friend of my husband's sold him a bag of scratch that he had. It contains, wheat, oats, black sunflower seeds and corn. He feeds this mixed in with a layer feed at 3:1. The 1 being the layer feed. I had about a quarter bag of my regular feed left and mixed this in with that and figured it would be ok until this weekend when I can get away to buy some more of my usual feed.
That was Saturday. Now tonight, I was in the coop and waited for one of the hens to lay her egg before I went in to the house for the night. When I picked it up, it was one of those soft eggs! It had a leathery shell and was opaque tan instead of brown.
Can the feed change make a difference in just 3 days? Or is this a coincidence? I have also been feeding a mush every morning for at least a month of ramen noodles, 2 hardboiled eggs with the shells, yogurt and a little cat food all mixed together. It makes up 2 big bowls and I have 9 chickens. I was hoping this would help with the egg laying and increase calcium and protein.
Another change is, for the last 2 days it has been below zero. Even though the coop is insulated, it has been -2 F. in the am and warming up to 4 above by mid day. I have had a heat lamp on at night for 2 nights (the -2 is with the heat lamp on) and a regular bulb on during the day hoping to help the coop temp. The weather change was sudden and has been only 2 days. It went from teens and in the 20's above zero for a couple of weeks, to this below zero stuff quickly! Could that be a factor?
So in the last 2 days, they have had new feed, a heat lamp at night which is new and first time freezing temps. Yes, they are looking miserable to me!
The other thing that was different is, I usually get 4 eggs a day and today was 5. Could someone have had her's 12 hours early and it just wasn't ready? The other 4 were normal, nice hard shells.
Thanks for any insight!
I am an hour from a feed store and didn't have time to go last weekend. A friend of my husband's sold him a bag of scratch that he had. It contains, wheat, oats, black sunflower seeds and corn. He feeds this mixed in with a layer feed at 3:1. The 1 being the layer feed. I had about a quarter bag of my regular feed left and mixed this in with that and figured it would be ok until this weekend when I can get away to buy some more of my usual feed.
That was Saturday. Now tonight, I was in the coop and waited for one of the hens to lay her egg before I went in to the house for the night. When I picked it up, it was one of those soft eggs! It had a leathery shell and was opaque tan instead of brown.
Can the feed change make a difference in just 3 days? Or is this a coincidence? I have also been feeding a mush every morning for at least a month of ramen noodles, 2 hardboiled eggs with the shells, yogurt and a little cat food all mixed together. It makes up 2 big bowls and I have 9 chickens. I was hoping this would help with the egg laying and increase calcium and protein.
Another change is, for the last 2 days it has been below zero. Even though the coop is insulated, it has been -2 F. in the am and warming up to 4 above by mid day. I have had a heat lamp on at night for 2 nights (the -2 is with the heat lamp on) and a regular bulb on during the day hoping to help the coop temp. The weather change was sudden and has been only 2 days. It went from teens and in the 20's above zero for a couple of weeks, to this below zero stuff quickly! Could that be a factor?
So in the last 2 days, they have had new feed, a heat lamp at night which is new and first time freezing temps. Yes, they are looking miserable to me!
The other thing that was different is, I usually get 4 eggs a day and today was 5. Could someone have had her's 12 hours early and it just wasn't ready? The other 4 were normal, nice hard shells.
Thanks for any insight!
