Just got my first egg!! What should I do feed wise?

[bacibeau]

Hey everyone! My 20-week old buff orp just laid her first egg this morning and it looked completely normal. However, I read online that she's going to need extra calcium in order to keep making solid shells. I bought layer feed (from the same company) but I'm not sure what to do now. She's the only one laying and I also read that it can be harmful if the non-laying pullets have too much calcium. I know that I have to gradually shift them over so should I start doing that now? Should I buy crushed oyster shells/calcium supplements? Or is there something else that you'd suggest?

The hen in the middle is the one who laid the egg. I'm a worried about changing the food mainly because of the one on the right because she looks a lot less mature than the others (even though they're all the same age)

Thanks for any advice you can offer!!!

 

[nuthatched]

What do they eat now? You can keep them on the grower feed if that's what they're on and just feed oyster shell on the side. No need for layer or you can mix the grower and layer so they still get good calcium and protein.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yes on the oyster shell. Put it in a separate container, the girls will take what they need when they need it. They just know!! Keep shell in it year round. Mine is an old metal bread pan screwed to outside of the coop (converted horse stall).

AND look at the price of the small bag of "name brand" shell and the 50 pound bag of "generic". You'll find the generic is WAY WAY WAY cheaper by the pound and it can't go bad so no reason not to buy "in bulk".

I've never had a problem with younger birds eating layer feed. I've got my whole flock of 25 on grower at the moment though as I have 5 almost 14 week old girls.

 

[bruceha2000]

I suppose I should say before I post this @cluckyclucks.

There is nothing out of the ordinary in the OPs post/questions. Very common for new chicken owners. Better to ask than make newbie errors. He CLEARLY does have a clue about raising chickens based on the questions he asked. You are out of line.

 

[bacibeau]

I suppose I should say before I post this @cluckyclucks.

There is nothing out of the ordinary in the OPs post/questions. Very common for new chicken owners. Better to ask than make newbie errors. He CLEARLY does have a clue about raising chickens based on the questions he asked. You are out of line.

Thank you!!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I suggest returning the layer feed, and going to a flock raiser/all flock feed with free choice oyster shell served seperately. All of your birds can eat it, at any age. Hens, Roos, hatchlings, adolescents, layers. The free choice oyster shell ensures that those that need extra calcium can get as much or as little as they need.

If you can't return the layer feed, you can use it. Excess calcium **IS** damaging to poultry. I can link study after study coming to the same conclusions. BUT! "The dosage is the poison". Feeding them layer once isn't going to hurt them in any measurable way. Feeding them for a single month out of their lives with layer feed likely won't hurt thim in any way you will notice. It may not hurt them ever. It depends on quantity, duration, and even genetics.

Think of it like smoking. No one can look at a single cigarette and say "that one will give you cancer". But you can say that the more you smoke, and the longer you smoke, the more likely you are to develop one (or more) of several kinds of cancer. Calcium in feed is the same way, only instead of cancer, its enlarged liver, intestinal lesions, liver failure, renal problems, kidney issues, etc. it does a number on them.

Excessive calcium intake in broiler chicks results in urolithiasis and visceral gout (hyperuricemia) with urate deposits on the abdominal viscera and in the joints. Tetanic convulsions can also be seen in chicks consuming excess calcium. Calcium levels >2% will induce these lesions in broilers. Feeding calcium in excess of 3% before the onset of egg production will induce the same lesions in egg-type or meat-type pullets.

...you should also be aware that new layers often take a bit to get into a routine, and work the kinks out of their plumbing - its at least 10x more frequent in lew layers than more "experienced" hens. You may see double yolk eggs, soft shell or shell less eggs, fairy eggs, and all sorts of strange things - unrelated to diet at all. Its only a concern if it persists over months of laying.

 

[bruceha2000]

I have ALWAYS fed layer to my hens year round. They are egg layers, not broilers.

I have not had the problems you've mentioned since I got my first 12 chicks in 2012. They were raised on starter then grower then layer. Subsequent chicks have chosen to eat the layer out of the feeder as soon as they could fly into the hanging feeder even when they had starter in their own feeder that the older hens WANTED to get into. The layer I feed (Poulin) is 3.4% to 4% calcium.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I have ALWAYS fed layer to my hens year round. They are egg layers, not broilers.

I have not had the problems you've mentioned since I got my first 12 chicks in 2012. They were raised on starter then grower then layer. Subsequent chicks have chosen to eat the layer out of the feeder as soon as they could fly into the hanging feeder even when they had starter in their own feeder that the older hens WANTED to get into. The layer I feed (Poulin) is 3.4% to 4% calcium.

You've butchered all those birds and looked inside? all 25 birds listed in your sig since 2012?

That is "anecdote". Not data.

Have some more anecdotes. Here's an anecdote from inside one of my birds.

The effects of excess calcium on growing birds was being studied in the 60s. They were also considering the posibility that excess calcium might inhibit long term growth. Hint: It did. By the 80s, they were wondering if the most common source of calcium might induce bone deformities in excess - it did. In the 80s, they looked at long term growth again, with some of the new birds - still reduced long term size (effects were not noted in slow growth birds). How about urolithisasis? Yep, that too. So they looked at adjusting dietary Ph to address it, deliberately inducing urolithiasis with high calcium. Still true in the 90s. Of course, Ca and P are related, intake needs to be balanced. (Your Poulin feed, btw, fails this test)

USDA/NRCS has something to say about about dietary needs of layers and broilers at various life stages. So does University of Georgia, and numerous (numerous) others. Your Poulin feed fails those tests too, only you don't see that they are underperforming, because you have no reference point.

You are, of course, welcome to maintain your opinion and position. I choose science.

 

[GC-Raptor]

Hey everyone! My 20-week old buff orp just laid her first egg this morning and it looked completely normal. However, I read online that she's going to need extra calcium in order to keep making solid shells. I bought layer feed (from the same company) but I'm not sure what to do now. She's the only one laying and I also read that it can be harmful if the non-laying pullets have too much calcium. I know that I have to gradually shift them over so should I start doing that now? Should I buy crushed oyster shells/calcium supplements?

I would continue feeding a Starter Grower feed with a container of Oyster Shells separately until one of your Speckled Sussex start to lay, then mix feeds 50/50 till the Starter-Grower is gone. GC

 

[Brooks_]

they had starter in their own feeder that the older hens WANTED to get into

I suspect the hens wanted the extra protein.