Is Layena known to make hens eggbound?

[flockoffour]

Hi I read on here that numerous people with egg bound hens thought it was because of Layena, is this a possibility? Also, what brand of food do you recommend that is fairly inexpensive. (my girls eat layena and also have free range acess to bugs, and I give them mealworms)

 

[Fred's Hens]

Cannot imagine Purina causing such issues.

Rather than just speculate widely about such things, I prefer to read, study and digest the research. It is plentiful. In a nutshell, there are two main issues with reproductive failures in high wire layers. First, they are bred for this. The envelope has been pushed to an extreme and there is always a backlash in nature when you do these things. The poultry genetics corporations have pushed these birds to extremes in the last 50 years. Note the CX commercial broiler. Well, the same kind of research and selective breeding has produced these layers.

Secondly, they get pushed to early point of lay. Whenever someone gets excited that their 15 or 16 week old RSL is laying, I wince, quite frankly. A BYCer would be much better to slow down the pullet's growth rate, ihmo. Yes, I've kept these birds for years. Slow it all down is a better way to go. These birds are pushed with 15 or 16 hours of artificial lighting and never given down times, even by BYCers. Push, push. Again, nature pushes back. The layers spit out enormous, brown eggs. Scary big. Is that a good thing? Hmmmmm. It is what it is. That's what these birds do.

The old line breeds are also not immune. They too have been pushed by the hatcheries into becoming production type fowl. Their true bred, heritage counterparts are incredibly slower to feather, develop, reach point of lay at 30 weeks, not 18 weeks and rarely lay at the same rate as the hatchery bred birds that bear the same name.

Blame Purina? I doubt it. BTW, I'm no Purina fanboy, if that helps.

 

[Chicken Lass]

I'd heard that it isn't good to feed them stuff with soy as the main source of protein - I think that's what Purina uses? Something about the soy causes a hormone imbalance. I switched mine to Cleveland Feed (still need to research Cleveland to see whether they use soy or not) for now, and though it's not really fancy, I haven't had any egg-bound issues since I started them on it. I was having some internal egg laying/egg binding going on while I was using Purina. Could have been the breed of chicken though, and not the feed. Time will tell if I made the right move. I also agree with Fred's Hens about the breeding and pushing early/heavy egg laying, which is certainly not natural.