Feeding scraps, LOTS of scraps

[spickus]

I'm new to chickens and have raised 22 birds from chicks. They are mixture of breeds and beginning to lay at just over 5 months. I have noticed some soft shelled eggs, eggs with excess calcium deposits and yesterday, a misshapen egg. My neighbor is a chef and brings me 2-3 gallons of restaurant scraps (the contents vary widely ) everyday or every other day. My question is, although all my birds appear healthy, are they filling up on the scraps and not receiving enough protein causing egg oddities? I do keep oyster shell available. Also how do I prevent them from laying eggs from the perch instead of the nest boxes?

 

[ranchhand]

Hi,

and congratulations on the chickens!

They're filling up on the scraps.

Their main food source should be from layer feed- I like pellets better than crumbles, because it seems to cut waste. Food scraps should be doled out as a treat, not their main source of food, for the best egg quality.

As far as the high wire performance, I had a RIR who did that. Turned out she was staying on the roost to avoid a dominant hen who was harassing her when she came down. I had to split the flock eventually, and the RIR went in with some smaller hens. She's fine now, except now she lays under the coop!