Oyster shell...we finally got an egg!

[progressivehomesteader]

It is possible that oyster shell works this fast?! If so, I feel like a big dummy! lol. My girls are 24 weeks and we just got our first egg! I started them with oyster shell yesterday and the egg was laid today in their run. I cannot tell you how excited I am. We've got a flock of 8 and had not gotten one egg. I knew they needed the oyster shell but I guess I was just being lazy, and we chocked it up to shorter/cooler days here on Long Island. Literally put the oyster shell out yesterday morning and we got an egg 26 hours later. WOW.

 

[charlie1051]

It could be the oyster shell or it could be that your girls were ready to rock and roll!

I have pullets that are 26 weeks old and just starting to lay. In the past, I've had breeds start laying at 20 weeks and some not start until 27-28 weeks. I'm not into the sex-link varieties but I hear they can lay as early as 16 weeks.

It can feel like an eternity waiting on that 1st egg. Congrats

 

[TooCheep]

No. Assuming they are healthy, then the oyster shell/laying is strictly coincidence. Young layers (even on the wrong feed) will have plenty of calcium in their bones that they will use for laying until they lose too much and then they will produce thin/no-shell eggs.

Feeding them layer feed (which has higher calcium) and/or supplying with oyster shell is how you keep up their calcium levels so that they can remain healthy and still produce healthy egg shells.

Enjoy the new egg.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

...Young layers (even on the wrong feed) will have plenty of calcium in their bones that they will use for laying until they lose too much and then they will produce thin/no-shell egg.

Exactly! Good for you, OP, for getting them on OS now. They will deplete their calcium reserves in their bones, and you won't know that this is happening until you start getting shell-less eggs (there are other reasons for this too.)

Fortuitous, but good, timing! As they start laying, you can also feed their eggshells back to them, but keep the oyster shell available for long-term supplementation. If they start getting sniffy at chunk oyster shells (the most common that is sold in stores like TSC), you can order flaked oyster shell from Amazon, or you can just put some chunked shell in a reasonably thick bag and whack on it with a hammer, breaking it down into more acceptable sizes for the picky girls.

 

[TooCheep]

Exactly! Good for you, OP, for getting them on OS now. They will deplete their calcium reserves in their bones, and you won't know that this is happening until you start getting shell-less eggs (there are other reasons for this too.)

Fortuitous, but good, timing! As they start laying, you can also feed their eggshells back to them, but keep the oyster shell available for long-term supplementation. If they start getting sniffy at chunk oyster shells (the most common that is sold in stores like TSC), you can order flaked oyster shell from Amazon, or you can just put some chunked shell in a reasonably thick bag and whack on it with a hammer, breaking it down into more acceptable sizes for the picky girls.

I give mine a mix of oyster shell and crushed egg shell and it takes care of any pickiness.

 

[FrostRanger]

Exactly! Good for you, OP, for getting them on OS now. They will deplete their calcium reserves in their bones, and you won't know that this is happening until you start getting shell-less eggs (there are other reasons for this too.)

Fortuitous, but good, timing! As they start laying, you can also feed their eggshells back to them, but keep the oyster shell available for long-term supplementation. If they start getting sniffy at chunk oyster shells (the most common that is sold in stores like TSC), you can order flaked oyster shell from Amazon, or you can just put some chunked shell in a reasonably thick bag and whack on it with a hammer, breaking it down into more acceptable sizes for the picky girls.

That or buy the huge bags, I find that to be more crushed than the smaller bags (works out cheaper too)

 

[AinaWGSD]

Nah, it's just a coincidence. Congratulations, BTW! First eggs are always exciting. We got our first egg from the buckeyes we hatched during the Easter hatchalong at 31 weeks and 5 days. They've had access to oyster shell for about the past two months.