Eggs brittle and yolks falling apart

[Altairsky]

Yeah I had a probable respiratory infection one year ago and, other than some minor sneezing, the only symptom was glitchy, poor quality eggs for a couple weeks. It went away on its own without medications. Vitamins or, better, molasses water wouldn't hurt though.

 

[Mountain Roost]

But I have roosters and I believe calcium isn’t good for them.

All commercial layer feed has calcium in it.

 

[StinkyAcres]

All commercial layer feed has calcium in it.

The OP is not feeding a layer feed. It's an all flock.

 

[Mountain Roost]

Yes. But if calcium was bad for roosters would it be in layer feed?

 

[StinkyAcres]

Yes. But if calcium was bad for roosters would it be in layer feed?

Layer feed is for layers. Roosters don't lay eggs so they don't need and shouldn't have the extra calcium.

 

[redinator]

Yes. But if calcium was bad for roosters would it be in layer feed?

From what I understand layer feed is only supposed to be fed if you only have laying hens, no roosters, no chicks.

All flock is safe for chickens of all ages, but you need to supplement calcium for the layers.

 

[BDutch]

My chickens prefer their own eggshells and have access to both layer and chick* feed. They eat just a little from the oyster flakes. The chickens seem to know what food they need or what food is the best for them.

I have no rooster but most hens don’t lay in winter for months and 2 stopped laying all together. I suppose much layer feed is bad for them too.

*I cant buy organic or reasonable priced all flock here. The nutritional value of the chick feed is about the same as all flock.

 

[Juleswins3]

Sounds

I’ve had chickens for years but can’t remember such poor quality of eggs. The shells are very soft. They are still hard shells but basically fall apart when you open them. Also the yolks break immediately, they seem to not have any structure.

I live in Vermont. Cold, dark days. I get about 2 eggs from 15 hens. I don’t mind and don’t expect eggs in the winter. But when I get them, I’m surprised at the poor quality.

I feel them Kalmbach 20% flock maker both the pellets and a container of the crumbles. They have access to oyster shells and I give them extra protein like meal worms, catfood and mackeral (not often but one of those maybe every 2-3 days. I have a rooster as well as a few Cochins along with my hardier. barnyard mix. They are all under two years old.

Any suggestions to really help boost the toughness of the shell and yolk? I feel like I’m missing something in their diet. The feed is supposed to have everything to support the chickens so I’m just not sure what’s wrong.

like they need grit and oyster shell.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Sounds

like they need grit and oyster shell.

OP says they have access to oyster shell. Grit has nothing to do with eggshell quality.

 

[Carontheroad]

This is my first year with roosters. I hatched 9 out of 20. I received conflicting information about whether or not layer feed is okay for roosters. The feed stores and a vet friend that owns a farm all say it is okay. My final thoughts were that the hens were the most important and so I went back to layer feed, alternating every 3rd or 4th bag with grower crumble which is a little higher in protein but has less calcium. We don’t have all flock feed here. I think the calcium issue for roosters would be from long term feeding.

I have experienced thin shells in the past and want to avoid that problem though I think it was primarily due to end of laying life. The hens have always had free oyster shells available. Recently the stores have had the rock type and they seem to uptake that more than the flakes but it could also be from me fooling around with layer versus grower feed.

For the folks that refeed eggshells, do you just crush them vs powder them? Do you bake them first in the oven for a bit? Do you combine them with the oyster shells?