Southern States VS. Tractor Supply Brand?

[lambchicks]

I have three flocks. The oldest two flocks will not eat TS food. I have even tryed "when they get hungry they will eat it" approach. Then egg production goes down. Then i go back to SS. My SS is much better to deal with and closer anyway.

 

[Ridgerunner]

An occasional soft shelled egg is not necessarily a calcium issue. Some hens have a genetic problem that does not allow them to process the calcium properly. It does not matter how much calcium you pour down them. They don't proces it the right way.

The hen's shell gland produces a certain amount of shell material a day. It can vary, but normally this is enough material to coat one egg. Sometimes hens release an extra yolk, two or even on rare occasions three, instead of the normal one a day. If these start through the hen's internal egg laying factory at the same time, you might get a double yolked egg. If there is a difference in when they start through the system, you might get a second egg in the same day. Often when this happens, the shell gland does not have enough shell material prepared for the second egg so that egg is soft shelled.

If most of your egg shells are hard but you occasionally get a soft shelled egg, it is probably not a problem with how much calcium they eat. It is probably a problem with an individual hen.

 

[bunrabbit41]

I have always fed the Rural King brand of feed which is made by Cargill and have not had to supplement it with calcium. I also use their Bunny Food for my spoiled rotten House Bunnies and have compared it very closely to Purina Green Bag in quality.

I know that the Rural King Brand is somewhat regional and considering that I am planning to move out of the region, this saddens me.