Feeding low-calcium feed: How much supplemental calcium does your flock eat?

[humblehillsfarm]

Hi ya'll. I typically feed an all-flock or a grower feed of 18-20% protein, when I can find it. Nutrina sells an all-flock that has something like 1.5% calcium, which is a little more than your typical grower or all-flock feed, so I prefer that brand. Nearly every single day I fill a bowl (like a human food bowl) with about 1/2-3/4 cup of crushed egg shells and 2-3 tablespoons of oyster shell. I have 17 chickens, two are sexually mature cockerels, and the rest are seven pullets, all of which have laid, and hens. It's winter, so the pullets and two of the mature hens have been sporadically laying. I get about 0-4 eggs a day. The entire flock will devour the calcium bowl, the cockerels and non-laying hens included. As I said, I refill it almost daily. However I continue to get a few eggs that have thinner shells.

Is there ever a point where the cockerels stop eating the calcium? Should I increase the oyster shell? Are the laying hens just getting pushed out of the way so they don't get to eat enough for themselves? How much should I normally expect the flock to eat? What the heck is going on? It seems to me like many flock members are eating too much, while others aren't getting enough.

I did recently purchase a gravity fed feeder to put the calcium in, but have yet to install it. I used to keep a bowl of pure oyster shells inside the coop, but they would never eat it which is why I started mixing in the egg shells (that, and to get rid of all the egg shells I've saved up.)

 

[ChickensForEggs2500]

Hi ya'll. I typically feed an all-flock or a grower feed of 18-20% protein, when I can find it. Nutrina sells an all-flock that has something like 1.5% calcium, which is a little more than your typical grower or all-flock feed, so I prefer that brand. Nearly every single day I fill a bowl (like a human food bowl) with about 1/2-3/4 cup of crushed egg shells and 2-3 tablespoons of oyster shell. I have 17 chickens, two are sexually mature cockerels, and the rest are seven pullets, all of which have laid, and hens. It's winter, so the pullets and two of the mature hens have been sporadically laying. I get about 0-4 eggs a day. The entire flock will devour the calcium bowl, the cockerels and non-laying hens included. As I said, I refill it almost daily. However I continue to get a few eggs that have thinner shells.

Is there ever a point where the cockerels stop eating the calcium? Should I increase the oyster shell? Are the laying hens just getting pushed out of the way so they don't get to eat enough for themselves? How much should I normally expect the flock to eat? What the heck is going on? It seems to me like many flock members are eating too much, while others aren't getting enough.

I did recently purchase a gravity fed feeder to put the calcium in, but have yet to install it. I used to keep a bowl of pure oyster shells inside the coop, but they would never eat it which is why I started mixing in the egg shells (that, and to get rid of all the egg shells I've saved up.)

In my coop we have a few clean, empty, sides rolled cat food cans that we keep full with OS/eggshells and grit that are screwed to the wall with rubber washers. I think you could consider leaving OS/eggshells available at all times. Hopefully you get all thick shells soon!

 

[humblehillsfarm]

In my coop we have a few clean, empty, sides rolled cat food cans that we keep full with OS/eggshells and grit that are screwed to the wall with rubber washers. I think you could consider leaving OS/eggshells available at all times. Hopefully you get all thick shells soon!

The bowl I uses is easily 3x the size as cat food cans and they eat it all in a day.

I used to keep something mounted to the wall of the coop, but the birds kept bumping into it and making a mess. They also didn't eat the oyster shells in it. I had it mounted for a year and aside from spilling it, it never seemed they were actually eating it.

Now that I fill a bowl outside, as I said, it's all empty at the end of each day. It seems that the flock as a whole is eating too much, but the birds that actually need it aren't getting enough.

 

[WindingRoad]

Hi ya'll. I typically feed an all-flock or a grower feed of 18-20% protein, when I can find it. Nutrina sells an all-flock that has something like 1.5% calcium, which is a little more than your typical grower or all-flock feed, so I prefer that brand. Nearly every single day I fill a bowl (like a human food bowl) with about 1/2-3/4 cup of crushed egg shells and 2-3 tablespoons of oyster shell. I have 17 chickens, two are sexually mature cockerels, and the rest are seven pullets, all of which have laid, and hens. It's winter, so the pullets and two of the mature hens have been sporadically laying. I get about 0-4 eggs a day. The entire flock will devour the calcium bowl, the cockerels and non-laying hens included. As I said, I refill it almost daily. However I continue to get a few eggs that have thinner shells.

Is there ever a point where the cockerels stop eating the calcium? Should I increase the oyster shell? Are the laying hens just getting pushed out of the way so they don't get to eat enough for themselves? How much should I normally expect the flock to eat? What the heck is going on? It seems to me like many flock members are eating too much, while others aren't getting enough.

I did recently purchase a gravity fed feeder to put the calcium in, but have yet to install it. I used to keep a bowl of pure oyster shells inside the coop, but they would never eat it which is why I started mixing in the egg shells (that, and to get rid of all the egg shells I've saved up.)

I also have birds that I know are eating OS but I think some birds absorb calcium better that others. So that may be your problem. I still get thin shells now and then. I keep mine topped off because when they forage in the OS tub they make a dust similar to what you see in a feed bag some times or at the bottom of a feeder. And I got a LARGE heated dog bowl which is right beside the OS tub and they stuff gets hard as a rock and I have to dig it out with a screwdriver as it is like concrete and they can't eat it. The tub is screwed into a three layer 2x4 stand for the water bowl and a feeder ( elbow type) so they splash water into the OS. Just keep it full and they will take what they need. I don't know of any "amount" to fee them. Maybe someone else might.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

In my coop we have a few clean, empty, sides rolled cat food cans that we keep full with OS/eggshells and grit that are screwed to the wall with rubber washers. I think you could consider leaving OS/eggshells available at all times. Hopefully you get all thick shells soon!

I should note though, that at the time I kept it in the coop, I was also using layer feed, not all-flock. I just switched to strictly all flock in the middle of last summer.

 

[Ebony Rose]

I dish out a full glass bread-loaf pan (pyrex) of ground eggshell that I purchase from the feed store and allow the flock to enjoy it when they see fit. I use the loaf pan because it is heavy enough to remain upright even if a bird decides to 'roost' on the edge of the dish while it nibbles. Oyster shell is not offered at any of the feed stores here for any price, and the ground eggshell is ground into a powder (totally unrecognizable) and is less than fifty-cents per pound. One pound lasts a very very long time with my flock of a dozen. Chicks and cockerels/roosters might take a bite here and there, and probably need that tiny bit to keep them healthy, and cockerels will eat more than a rooster as they are going through a profound growth spurt, but typically won't eat enough of it offered in this manner to cause them any long term problems. Your soon to start pullets and hens will enjoy having precisely what they need and as much as they need at their disposal, no need to ration it as chickens tend to know what they need and develop a craving for what they need.

 

[3KillerBs]

Are you offering regular grit as well?

It might just be the novelty of your bringing in something special -- the way they all attack their feeder when you add more pellets to the top even though they are exactly the same. If your calcium feeder was large enough that it would last several days maybe they wouldn't be so inclined to gobble it on sight?

 

[aart]

Have never had birds gorge on OS.......they have on grit tho, so I sprinkle some around instead of using a dish.

 

[halefamily_flock]

I sprinkle mine as well, and sprinkle grit at the same time so everyone can get a "treat". I currently have only 8 laying hens out of a flock of 30 and they don't eat much OS. I sprinkle a cup of OS every few days, and maybe twice as much grit. They free range all day, so it's not their only source.

 

[Folly's place]

I have oyster shell in a feeder for my flock of thirty+ hens and pullets, and they it it down gradually. A fifty pound bag costs very little, and lasts for a long time.
Hens need the maximum calcium in the very early morning, when they are laying down the day's egg shell, and powdered oyster shell or ground egg shells eaten early the day before won't still be available to them. It's best to have that oyster shell out there for any bird who needs it, regardless if you are feeding an all flock feed, as we do here, or a layer feed with extra calcium.
It's fine to give them egg shells, but it's not enough for many hens.
mary