Hi one and all, Taking a poll on the amount of protein your hens are getting in their feed? I am very interested in the amount of protein everyone is feeding their laying hens and what each of you think is the proper amount of protein and why? ***Thanks all! Cindy Camelot....
I feed an soy-free organic starter mash to all of my laying hens that is 20% protein with oyster shell on the side. I mostly picked this because it is the only soy-free organic feed that is available close to me. I also feed a small brick of fodder daily that is a mix of barley, wheat and BOSS which without doing the math again is around 16% protein sprouted 8 days I believe (I would need to double check that number). The 20% protein in the feed gives me a little leeway to add these supplements without lowering the overall too much.
I feed 18% all flock to everybody over 2 months old with oyster shell on the side. I do notice that after a while a couple of the girls start to lay eggs with thinner shell than the rest, not bad just thinner. When this happens I will through in a bag of layer for the laying flock just for the extra calcium. I guess some of the girls don't eat the oyster shell in this flock. But I do notice that the girls lay better and look better on the higher protein.
