minimal feeding requirements

[EggSighted4Life]

Ok, so my question isn't about feeding but about eggs. It seems that out of 21 chickens, we have one that broods all day and have one that will lay an egg that has no shell! We have found an egg with what looks like just the membrane sac and no hard shell. My husband found another one today (which makes the fourth one we've found) and he said it looked like it had an umbilical cord attached to it, and sometimes when we gather the eggs, we notice that they are sticky like maybe an egg broke and they ate it....not sure what's going on, as we get appx 13-17 eggs a day out of 21 chickens. the most we've ever gotten is 20 and that's only been once. I have no idea what hens are laying eggs and every now and then we get an egg that's about as small as a pigeon egg. My main concern is the egg being laid with no shell.

Does anyone have any idea why we have a hen who lays an egg with no shell and why she would lay one like that. Is she sick?

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I'm going to agree with Lazy Gardener... in that when I have soft shells like that it is usually a girl who is either just coming into or out of lay. I have OS available all the time, free range, and 20% protein feed available, and don't feed many treats... nutrition is NOT an issue for us. But it still happens sometimes.

And sometimes glitches just happen. That pigeon egg might not have a yolk, or it could be only yolk.

Though of course the other things mentioned are possibilities.

 

[newbie20]

Our birds are 14 months old and have been laying eggs since last july. It's only recently that we have started finding the egg with no shell. Not sure what you mean by "cull" her and to be honest, out of 21 chickens, I don't even know who's laying what.

We have four Plymouth (barred) Rocks, three Black Sex Links and the rest are Black Jersey Giants and I have no idea who's laying what eggs....

 

[casportpony]

Our birds are 14 months old and have been laying eggs since last july. It's only recently that we have started finding the egg with no shell.  Not sure what you mean by "cull" her and to be honest, out of 21 chickens, I don't even know who's laying what.

We have four Plymouth (barred) Rocks, three Black Sex Links and the rest are Black Jersey Giants and I have no idea who's laying what eggs....

Which one sits in a nest all day? Does she act like a broody hen by fluffing up and growling when you get close?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Our birds are 14 months old and have been laying eggs since last july. It's only recently that we have started finding the egg with no shell. Not sure what you mean by "cull" her and to be honest, out of 21 chickens, I don't even know who's laying what.

We have four Plymouth (barred) Rocks, three Black Sex Links and the rest are Black Jersey Giants and I have no idea who's laying what eggs....

I have lots of girls in that age range... and many have gone through a mini molt... which included the soft eggs. I think you MIGHT be having normal conditions with nothing to worry about.

Is the hen that sits all day sleeping in there at night to? She is either broody or having a hard time laying an egg, waiting for it to come out.

Cull means eliminate. Sometimes just getting them out of your flock, other times means actually killing them to keep them from suffering. But if you aren't seeing any signs of illness yet, I really wouldn't be thinking that.

I would expect health problems to come in your sex links first, but you never know.

If it's super important to find out who is laying what... you can paint the vent with food coloring. Say blue for the BR... and the color will stain the egg as it's laid. You can do it for different breeds first and then after you narrow down which breed, then use different colors for the girls of that breed to see who is laying what. DO not use red as it invites pecking.

With that many girls, I wouldn't worry about a soft egg here or there on occasion especially during change of seasons and if you know their nutritional needs are being met and IF nobody is acting ill. But I tend to not be an over reactor.

 

[Shadow920]

Hen raised. I do all my chick hatching with hens now.

i wish i could do that but i can never count on my hens to go broody when i want them. last year they went broody to close to winter. this year has been better. my cochin hatched out 4 eggs two weeks ago, and i've got an easter egger who just started setting yesterday. the rest of my hens are stubborn. i agree that hen raised chicks are healthier though. they learn to be tough and quick at an early age and they gain immunities and are able to get used to temperture changes.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

i wish i could do that but i can never count on my hens to go broody when i want them. last year they went broody to close to winter. this year has been better. my cochin hatched out 4 eggs two weeks ago, and i've got an easter egger who just started setting yesterday. the rest of my hens are stubborn. i agree that hen raised chicks are healthier though. they learn to be tough and quick at an early age and they gain immunities and are able to get used to temperture changes.

In order to make this work, I actually purchased known broody hens. I keep a designated broody hutch with those bantams (either Silkie or Cochin) for the sole purpose of hatching and growing chicks.

A good Silkie will go broody about 4 times a year (every 3 to 4 months). My bantam Cochins about 2 to 3 times a year. Not every hen of those breeds will do that, but many will. Most Silkie breeders are eager to rehome an overly broody gal for free or fairly inexpensively if you aren't worried about SOP. (And, I'm not for this purpose...just a very dedicated momma).

I then use any large fowl volunteer that comes along. I've hatched in the main coop with them (and limited success because of foot traffic) or best in a side coop. (I have an Isbar/Marans with a clutch of 9 right night that hatched last week).

With enough of the broody prone hens, I hatch pretty much year round.

I find my winter hatches the most fruitful as the chicks, oblivious to the cold (just keep them out of direct weather), grow very quickly and become early layers by spring.

Broody hatching of course is not as dependable as incubator. But I learned to hate the work, mess and risk (burned a coop down with a heat lamp) of artificial brooding, so I'm happy to wait for my little mothers of nature to do the job for me especially since the chicks do seem stronger and integrate better.

LofMc

 

[mobius]

If I were brooding (I wish, not enough room) I would SO get a silkie or two! They are adorable, friendly and apparently their entire life's purpose is to be broody. I suspect that if they even SAW a clutch of eggs they would go immediately into broody mode (kidding, but not much). And those pictures of them with their babies! I melt.

 

[centrarchid]

The majority of my replacement birds are hen-hatched and hen-reared. Ideally, brood size starts out at eight or better chicks per hen. That cuts down on the number of broods needed for whole season, likelihood of conflicts between broody hens when free-ranged and the number of broody hens kept total as they do cost to keep without egg production to offset.

 

[mobius]

Cost of no eggs offset by the Cuteness Overload factor!

(apologies, I know you guys are being serious and appropriate here).

 

[FaerieChicken]

https://www.scratchandpeck.com/feed-and-fines-maximizing-the-value-with-fermented-feed/

I have been fermenting my chickens feed for several months now. I kind of feels like I go through a lot of feed, but then again, I have A LOT OF CHICKENS!

I am sure we have well around 100!

I go through, right now as I have cornish cross I am free ranging and we all hopefully know how MUCH they can eat, about 1 to 1 1/2 5 gal buckets of fermented non-GMO whole grains with a 28% natural non-GMO turkey crumble for increased protein. I also splurge a bit and add some probiotics, herbs and spices along with pumpkin seeds and organic unfiltered ACV!

Sometimes we put garlic or ginger, and they get plenty of table scraps of not just veggies and fruit, but meat too, mostly beef!

All of our chickens, turkeys and now ducks are open pastured, even the fat mcnuggets, until week of butcher! I get delicious golden egg yolks, extremely well developed shells and beautiful happy poultry. Now if only this worked on the external parasites..... whole other article I suppose.

There are more insights to Fermenting Chicken Feed with more detailed pros/cons on google!
https://www.google.com/search?q=fer.....69i57j0l5.5382j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8