Question about oyster shell

[Chris623]

My hens are now 9 months old. I've 14 hens and since they started laying in December, they consistently produce an average of 1 doz eggs per day. When they first started laying, I (a "store egg" kinda guy) was surprised at how hard the shells were. Strong and thick...........so much so it took the back edge of a butter knife to efficiently crack them for the skillet. Now, it seems, the shells are still strong........................but just not as strong as I remember them being only 3 or 4 months ago. I free feed oyster shell...........and clean and return their own shells in bits and pieces to the yard. They are fed Purina brand Layena, so with the extra oyster shell and eggs shells I'd think they are getting enough of what they need. Any thoughts as to why I may be getting more delicate shells?

 

[underground chickenman]

They are older now. Pullets lay a thicker-shelled egg. Unless they are unusually thin, I wouldn't worry about it. The Layena and free choice oyster shell is a solid feeding plan in my opinion. I use the starter instead of Layena, but only because mine seem to do better with a little more protein. I also provide free-choice oyster shell and a couple of hands full of black oil sunflower seeds for them to scratch.

UGCM

 

[Chris09]

They could be lacking in Vit. D or even Phosphorus. Are you feeding a lot of treats? That could knock your feed off..
I have some 3 year old hens that still lay hard shell eggs..

Chris

 

[Chris623]

I haven't tried black sunflower seeds, but I give them the salad and vegetable scraps from the meals we cook. They get raw vegetable scraps..............things like carrots, tomatoes, asparagus stalks, broccoli stems, green pepper scraps, etc. I've also bought them a few heads of cabbage to throw out as a treat but find that gives them runny poo.........so I stopped it. I also give them Durvet's High Performance Poultry Pak vitamins and electrolytes in their water, so I feel relatively assured they get plenty of vitamin D.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
You may want to try cutting back on the "treats" and see if that help and maybe some cod liver oil or wheat germ oil on there feed..

Chris

 

[Chris623]

Don't think I'd ever have thought of cod liver oil or wheat germ.

I try and give them the vegetable scraps daily..................is that too often?