Not impressed with shell strength.

[MissE]

A little over a month ago I switched from a 16% layer feed to 20% starter grower, which is the closest thing I can find to an all flock type feed.

I have noticed a few weak shells. All of my layers are between 11 and 24 months old. They have always had free choice oyster shells, however I do see they have been hitting them harder now that they aren't getting the layer feed.

I switched for a few reasons. I have a rooster. When I switched, two hens were not laying, however they have now started up again. It was crazy cold, as in colder than -40, and I thought the extra protein would benefit them.

Has there been some benefit? Yes. Egg production is up, and the two that weren't laying are back in the game.

Downside is weaker shells and cost. The cost isn't really a big deal. Layer feed marked price is about $1 per bag less. Also, in MN there is no sales tax on layer feed, but there is on gamebird and what would be considered meat bird/chick starter. I sell most of my eggs, so an extra dozen or two in procudion makes up for the feed cost.

For the first time ever, I had an egg break in my pocket. Not pleasant on it's own, but add to that all the sawdust in my pocket from doing firewood, and it was a joy to clean up. I also had a couple crack when I was wiping them down to package up for sale.

Any suggestions other than going back to the layer feed?

 

[Ebony Rose]

Your feed store should also offer ground egg shell and many hens prefer this over the oyster shell. It tends to be cheap and is ground up to a fine powder (totally unrecognizable).
All flock or chick starter (non-medicated) is the better health option over the long haul for feeding your mixed flock of mixed gender, mixed age and mixed laying condition of your birds.

 

[Starburst]

@Tycine1 has offered some good advice. I would highly recommend you try to switch to all flock or non-medicated chick starter if possible.
My feed store doesn't have crushed eggshell, but I suppose you could also crush up the eggshells at home if needed.
Though it sounds like they're not having a problem with eating the oyster shell! Best of luck with figuring out how to deal with these thin shells!

 

[MissE]

Your feed store should also offer ground egg shell and many hens prefer this over the oyster shell. It tends to be cheap and is ground up to a fine powder (totally unrecognizable).
All flock or chick starter (non-medicated) is the better health option over the long haul for feeding your mixed flock of mixed gender, mixed age and mixed laying condition of your birds.

Next time I make the trip to the big city, I will see if they have ground egg shells. My local one doesn't, and the next one is an hour away. I already feed back any egg shells I have, but that only averages about a dozen a week and I have 17 layers.

 

[Ebony Rose]

There's more to egg shell quality than just calcium. Amino acids play a role too, as does the age of the hen. A high quality supplement added to their water such as Chick Booster by Neurovet offers a complete vitamin, mineral and amino-acid profile for poultry and is easy to administer, cheap and pleasantly flavored. While at your feed store, check to see if they have some.

 

[rosemarythyme]

What you could try, if you're willing to buy more than 1 type of feed, is to offer both layer and starter/all flock. It'll dilute down the calcium a bit and up the protein a bit, which I feel better about. My birds get fermented grower as well as dry layer pellets - most of them prefer to fill up on the grower and then nibble on the layer the rest of the day. Oyster shells are available. Egg shells are pretty good, though I do have one bird that doesn't want oyster shell, so when she's laying I mix some oyster shell powder into her private breakfast as she does need more calcium.

 

[333113]

FWIW, my suggestion is to go back to layer ration.

I have raised several breeds of chickens, standards and bantams, for over 20 years, and have always fed layer ration to all adult birds, with free-choice oyster shell on the side. My flock's natural death age averages over ten years, and the closest my birds come to seeing a vet is seeing the state vet tech for their semi-annual NPIP/AI test.

I know there are people who claim that excess calcium will hurt roosters. I have read the articles they referenced, and I don't see evidence in the articles for it, except perhaps for meat broilers, who don't generally live a long life, anyway. But you can decide for yourself. Here is that thread with the references and my reply.(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ie-roosters-comb.1089964/page-2#post-24023534)

Good luck with your layers!

 

[AprilsZoo]

I assume you don’t want to pill 17 chickens I certainly wouldn’t...

Perhaps you could crush a few Caltrate (generic=calcium citrate +D3) tablets a few times a week and top dress a small amount of their feed.
calcium. The citrate form of calcium is the most absorbable & the D3 helps make it more effective.
I’m thinking that you could feed to *just the hens* whatever amount they would eat in a very short time, probably first thing in the morning when they are hungriest. Wetting the feed/calcium mixture would ensure that they didn’t pick around or somehow fail to eat the crushed calcium. Setting out several small dishes would help to ensure that everyone has access to be able to get a few mouthfuls.

Alternatively, you could use Tums tablets— yes the antacid. Tums are Calcium carbonate, which is what oyster shells are. Tums would be much easier to crush.

This wouldn’t be like giving calcium after a known hen lays a soft egg. Rather it would be a way to mimic layer ration. When the amount of calcium in the “treat” is averaged over all the feed you provide in a week, I think you could approximate the amount they would receive if only layer ration were being fed... or perhaps just slightly boost above that. You could then adjust the amount supplemented depending on the shell quality you are seeing. It would definitely be a trial & error process.

Since you’d be giving the calcium boost only to the hens, you wouldn’t have to worry about the rooster having the layer feed. If there were ever a bit left that the rooster managed to find, it shouldn’t be enough to matter.

A mortar and pestle, if you don’t already own one, makes easy work of crushing tablets, not to mention eggshells. A decent one is around $12-$15 on Amazon, or at Walmart.
Once you have one, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. I love mine for crushing dried spices & herbs— makes them so much more flavorful. Being able to crush pills is just a bonus!

 

[MissE]

I assume you don’t want to pill 17 chickens I certainly wouldn’t...

Perhaps you could crush a few Caltrate (generic=calcium citrate +D3) tablets a few times a week and top dress a small amount of their feed.
calcium. The citrate form of calcium is the most absorbable & the D3 helps make it more effective.
I’m thinking that you could feed to *just the hens* whatever amount they would eat in a very short time, probably first thing in the morning when they are hungriest. Wetting the feed/calcium mixture would ensure that they didn’t pick around or somehow fail to eat the crushed calcium. Setting out several small dishes would help to ensure that everyone has access to be able to get a few mouthfuls.

Alternatively, you could use Tums tablets— yes the antacid. Tums are Calcium carbonate, which is what oyster shells are. Tums would be much easier to crush.

This wouldn’t be like giving calcium after a known hen lays a soft egg. Rather it would be a way to mimic layer ration. When the amount of calcium in the “treat” is averaged over all the feed you provide in a week, I think you could approximate the amount they would receive if only layer ration were being fed... or perhaps just slightly boost above that. You could then adjust the amount supplemented depending on the shell quality you are seeing. It would definitely be a trial & error process.

Since you’d be giving the calcium boost only to the hens, you wouldn’t have to worry about the rooster having the layer feed. If there were ever a bit left that the rooster managed to find, it shouldn’t be enough to matter.

A mortar and pestle, if you don’t already own one, makes easy work of crushing tablets, not to mention eggshells. A decent one is around $12-$15 on Amazon, or at Walmart.
Once you have one, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. I love mine for crushing dried spices & herbs— makes them so much more flavorful. Being able to crush pills is just a bonus!

I think I have the weak shells narrowed down to a couple of the girls, so pilling them might not be a bad option.

I keep the Speckled Sussex eggs for myself because they are on the small side, and look silly in the cartons compared to the others. I cracked 12 of them for breakfast yesterday, and they had nice hard shells.

I have a Sapphire Gem that is probably getting too much calcium because she has a tendency to get calcium deposits on her shells, but one of the SG was the one with the egg that broke in my pocket, and I think the two that broke while I was cleaning them came from the same ISA brown.

I don't know how long it takes for them to deplete their calcium stores, and it wasn't until this week that I noticed a problem, so I'm hoping it doesnt get worse. It could be just a couple that aren't eating enough OS, or maybe more will develop the same issue. I may need to do some spot checks throughout the week to see if there are others I didn't notice.

 

[MissE]

FWIW, my suggestion is to go back to layer ration.

I have raised several breeds of chickens, standards and bantams, for over 20 years, and have always fed layer ration to all adult birds, with free-choice oyster shell on the side. My flock's natural death age averages over ten years, and the closest my birds come to seeing a vet is seeing the state vet tech for their semi-annual NPIP/AI test.

I know there are people who claim that excess calcium will hurt roosters. I have read the articles they referenced, and I don't see evidence in the articles for it, except perhaps for meat broilers, who don't generally live a long life, anyway. But you can decide for yourself. Here is that thread with the references and my reply.(https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ie-roosters-comb.1089964/page-2#post-24023534)

Good luck with your layers!

My rooster is a meat broiler. He is Hoover's version of the Red/Freedom Ranger. He's 20 months old right now, and hasn't had any issues (that I can see) from eating layer feed, but if he were to kick the bucket tomorrow, I would blame not being bred for longevity as the cause before I looked for anything else.