Egg thickness?

[Oghdoff]

One of my RIR girls has started laying finally. She ha slaid 2 small eggs and today when I went to break them open they seemed thicker than store bought eggs. I have been feeding them Flock Raiser. After the first egg I started mixing in laying pellets(whoch they refuse to eat). Should I just keep feeding them Flock Raiser and have oyster shell in a side dish or just continue with as normal?

here is a pic of the first 2 compared to a store bought large.

 

[Ken F]

It takes about 3 months for a pullet's eggs to reach full size.
You can continue with the flock raiser and provide oyster shell, as you say, or switch to layer feed now that they are laying. You might try layer crumbles instead of pellets if they are used to grower crumbles.
Your egg shells should always be thicker than store bought. That's one of the advantages to backyard eggs!

 

[Oghdoff]

Thanks! I grew up on yard eggs, but wasn't involved in the cooking of them. This being the first time I was just wondering.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is not at all unusual for those small pullet eggs to be thicker than full sized eggs. I think it is because the shell gland puts out the same amount of shell material whether the egg is the small pullet size of the regular size. One of the university sites that discusses incubation problems mentions that the thick shelled pullet eggs can cause some hatching problems.

49.Sign: Red hocks in hatched chicks or unhatched pips. Causes:

50.
a.Prolonged pushing on shell during pipping and hatching.

b.Vitamin deficiencies.

c.Thick shells, as in pullet flocks.

d.High incubator humidity and/or low incubator temperature.

And the link to verify what I am saying.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204

You can continue with Flock Raiser with oyster shell on the side or switch to Layer. Even if you switch to Layer, you can offer oyster shell on the side if you wish. They just will not go through the oyster shell very fast.

 

[Oghdoff]

I have turkeys and ducks as well and when I am working and cannot get home in time to feed them my mother does. With all the different breeds and ages it's easier for my mother to just use one type of food. I just don't want her to have to come over and get confused with which bag to which critter.