Soft shells?

[DobieLover]

I can’t recall exactly what their normal feed is. I have a friend who get me the same mix he uses for his hens. Along with I occasionally give them some scratch grains & some table scraps & shredded cheese.
I’m starting to save shells & grinding them & mixing back into their grains as well.

It would be good to know how much protein is in the base formula you feed as well as the calcium content. Only actively laying pullets/hens need higher calcium. When they stop laying during molt, brooding, winter break, illness, etc. they do not need that extra calcium.
I found that I had excess calcium deposits on shells when I topped their feed with oyster shell so I switched to feeding on the side in a hanging 3# feeder. No issues since I made that switch.

 

[WindingRoad]

That doesn't sound good to me.
If all things aren't perfect, feed is often an issue and your first post didn't mention what your chickens are eating. Your friend may or may not be knowledgeable in poultry nutrition. Just owning chickens doesn't make one so.
You should know the exact protein % and calcium % of what your chickens are fed.
Protein percentage is printed on the front of the bag and both are printed on the guaranteed analysis tag on the bottom of every bag of feed.
Your description makes me think they are not even getting a complete chicken feed but rather a mix of grains.
The bulk of a layers' feed should be about 16-17% crude protein and 4% calcium.
You can go with a higher protein feed 18-20% and 1% calcium by providing oyster shell in a separate container.
OS and egg shells are over 95% calcium carbonate (CaCo3). CaCo3 is 40% calcium. Putting either on or in the feed requires the hens to consume much more calcium than they should.
Sufficient amino acids are needed to ovulate regularly. A correct ratio of calcium to phosphorus is necessary for proper shell formation. Providing a complete chicken feed makes this simple.
Grains are low in both protein and calcium. Around 7% and <0.3% respectively.

I don't think 20 grains of OS for 4 birds once a week is over feeding OS.
Do you put your eggshells in a separate container also. They aren't required to consume too much because many times I have seen some left in the dish. I empty the dish at the evening meal. Mostly pine shavings from them scratching into the dish.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

OS and crushed shells will coat feed. If they want to eat, they'll eat food coated with calcium. IF I use egg shells, I add them to the OS cage cup that is in each run or near nests. I don't use egg shells often since they aren't large particle so are like the calcium in feed.

 

[WindingRoad]

OS and crushed shells will coat feed. If they want to eat, they'll eat food coated with calcium. IF I use egg shells, I add them to the OS cage cup that is in each run or near nests. I don't use egg shells often since they aren't large particle so are like the calcium in feed.

How? Crushed egg shells are dry so is OS . I don't know what kind of OS you are using mine does not coat their food. And how do you know how much each bird is getting. Maybe one bird "thinks" it needs more and eats all of it in the cup and the other birds don't get any. I have my birds in a pre fab coop 1st mistake. I don't light or heat the coop 2nd and 3rd mistake, I feed mealworms with every meal .4th mistake, I feed scratch with every meal, 5th mistake, I don't have hard cloth around my coop 6th mistake and I feed OS and crushed egg shells right over their food. 7th mistake. My birds lived the whole winter without any illness. No sour crop no impacted crop, No M disease or C disease. No scaly leg mites. No snotty noses or gooky eyes. Oh and I added my 2 SLW Wyandottes without Q'ing them. OMG how am I raising active, clucking, bright eyed all winter laying chickens with sooooooo many mistakes. IDK.

OH back to the OP's questions. I have hard shelled eggs.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's the point. You don't know how much calcium a bird is getting if you are adding 40% calcium to feed that is already 4% calcium.
When the chickens empty the OS cage cup, what remains is calcium dust. If I were to put that on the food, it could coat the feed. It doesn't need to coat it completely. Just some dust can raise the calcium content significantly.

I didn't say you were making mistakes.
Providing no light or heat aren't mistakes.
Depending on how many mealworms and what their primary feed is, the mealworms may be adding too much protein and fat.
When you say 'every meal' does that mean your birds don't have feed available all day?

I'm not here to fight, I'm just here to provide advice. I don't have 4 birds. Maybe micromanaging is easier.
My bird numbers range from 40-100 over the course of the year.
You can take my advice with a grain of salt but after thousands of chickens, a background in poultry nutrition and teaching poultry husbandry in all sorts of venues from colleges to heritage poultry conferences I would hope that some would value my input and take it to heart.

 

[WindingRoad]

That's the point. You don't know how much calcium a bird is getting if you are adding 40% calcium to feed that is already 4% calcium.
When the chickens empty the OS cage cup, what remains is calcium dust. If I were to put that on the food, it could coat the feed. It doesn't need to coat it completely. Just some dust can raise the calcium content significantly.

Providing no light or heat aren't mistakes.
Depending on how much and what their feed is, the mealworms may be adding too much protein and fat.

I'm not here to fight, I'm just here to provide advice. I don't have 4 birds. Maybe micromanaging is easier. My bird numbers range from 40-100 over the course of the year.
You can take my advice with a grain of salt but after thousands of chickens, a background in poultry nutrition and teaching poultry husbandry in all sorts of venues from colleges to heritage poultry conferences I would hope that some would value my input.

My OS is not dust. 20 grains sometimes 21 for 4 birds, IMHO, is not overfeeding Ca++. Ya know MD's recommended smoking back in the day. I grew up on a farm. And as many have said here chickens got along just fine before we started taking care of them. I bet they got Ca++ from free ranging. So do your chickens free range and do you still give OS on the side. Probably if you hadn't put your edict in BOLD lettering like it's gospel I might not have responded. BTW does that calcium dust cause respiratory issues with either you or your birds. Mine eat the OS so fast dust can't form. Again I would posit how do you know all of your chickens are getting their fare share of Ca++

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMHO is the operative phrase here.

All my flocks free range. However, there is little calcium afforded there. Even when lots of exoskeleton insects are available, the calcium content is quite low.
I still have a cage cup of OS in every house throughout the laying season because I rarely have a flock made up entirely of actively laying birds
The calcium dust wouldn't cause respiratory issues because it isn't airborne. It settles onto whatever it is sitting on.

I don't assay all their intake but proper calcium/phosphorus/D3 ratios are assured by evaluating shell quality.

I bolded because the dangers of excess calcium is gospel.

I'm finished with this conversation. I have 7 flocks of chickens to tend to.

 

[JoeST]

That doesn't sound good to me.
If all things aren't perfect, feed is often an issue and your first post didn't mention what your chickens are eating. Your friend may or may not be knowledgeable in poultry nutrition. Just owning chickens doesn't make one so.
You should know the exact protein % and calcium % of what your chickens are fed.
Protein percentage is printed on the front of the bag and both are printed on the guaranteed analysis tag on the bottom of every bag of feed.
Your description makes me think they are not even getting a complete chicken feed but rather a mix of grains.
The bulk of a layers' feed should be about 16-17% crude protein and 4% calcium.
You can go with a higher protein feed 18-20% and 1% calcium by providing oyster shell in a separate container.
OS and egg shells are over 95% calcium carbonate (CaCo3). CaCo3 is 40% calcium. Putting either on or in the feed requires the hens to consume much more calcium than they should.
Sufficient amino acids are needed to ovulate regularly. A correct ratio of calcium to phosphorus is necessary for proper shell formation. Providing a complete chicken feed makes this simple.
Grains are low in both protein and calcium. Around 7% and <0.3% respectively.

 

[JoeST]

That doesn't sound good to me.
If all things aren't perfect, feed is often an issue and your first post didn't mention what your chickens are eating. Your friend may or may not be knowledgeable in poultry nutrition. Just owning chickens doesn't make one so.
You should know the exact protein % and calcium % of what your chickens are fed.
Protein percentage is printed on the front of the bag and both are printed on the guaranteed analysis tag on the bottom of every bag of feed.
Your description makes me think they are not even getting a complete chicken feed but rather a mix of grains.
The bulk of a layers' feed should be about 16-17% crude protein and 4% calcium.
You can go with a higher protein feed 18-20% and 1% calcium by providing oyster shell in a separate container.
OS and egg shells are over 95% calcium carbonate (CaCo3). CaCo3 is 40% calcium. Putting either on or in the feed requires the hens to consume much more calcium than they should.
Sufficient amino acids are needed to ovulate regularly. A correct ratio of calcium to phosphorus is necessary for proper shell formation. Providing a complete chicken feed makes this simple.
Grains are low in both protein and calcium. Around 7% and <0.3% respectively.

I don’t recall the mix. He gets it from a local feed store that processes it there. I dont recall the protein amount, but I do know it has mixed grains as well as calcium added. I do trust him though as he raises several poultry both for eggs & his kids 4H. As well as cattle & hogs & has been doing it for years. He’s said this feed has produced the most eggs out of the feeds he’s used for his birds. He has somewhere around 30 birds.
Aside from that my Mom has had chickens (two to three at a time) for several years & feed them all kinds of things, she’s never had any problems & always had nice big eggs.

 

[WindingRoad]

IMHO is the operative phrase here.

All my flocks free range. However, there is little calcium afforded there. Even when lots of exoskeleton insects are available, the calcium content is quite low.
I still have a cage cup of OS in every house throughout the laying season because I rarely have a flock made up entirely of actively laying birds
The calcium dust wouldn't cause respiratory issues because it isn't airborne. It settles onto whatever it is sitting on.

I don't assay all their intake but proper calcium/phosphorus/D3 ratios are assured by evaluating shell quality.

I bolded because the dangers of excess calcium is gospel.

I'm finished with this conversation. I have 7 flocks of chickens to tend to.

And I bolded my response I don't think 20 grains of OS is over feeding. I have hard shells also. OMG I must be doing something correctly. Are you saying when the chickens flap their wings the dust doesn't fly around.