Hi,
I have 8 hens that have been laying pretty regular since they were about 4 months old. They are about ten months old now. I normally run a 20% layer ration for them but discovered that I can get spent grains from a local micro brewery for free. I tried swapping them over to the spent grains and supplementing with oyster shells but they stopped laying. I went back to straight 20% rations with supplemental oyster shells and they went back to laying.
Now I have the 20% layer out and a tin with the spent grains "on the side" so to speak and it seems like they have almost stopped laying again.
It has been about 2 weeks in between the food changes and egg production changes.
My understanding is the spent grain runs about 28% protein and low carbohydrates. Looking at the layer ration bag it seems that the protein/carb ratios are about the same (minus the 8%).
So, what is it about the spent grain that slows my girls down? I've seen numerous posts that tell of folks feeding their hens the spent grain and have seen one other post asking about egg production and the spent grains.
It would be nice to supplement them in the winter anyhow with a free food source.
Any suggestions on how to feed them the grains without losing egg production would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott
I have 8 hens that have been laying pretty regular since they were about 4 months old. They are about ten months old now. I normally run a 20% layer ration for them but discovered that I can get spent grains from a local micro brewery for free. I tried swapping them over to the spent grains and supplementing with oyster shells but they stopped laying. I went back to straight 20% rations with supplemental oyster shells and they went back to laying.
Now I have the 20% layer out and a tin with the spent grains "on the side" so to speak and it seems like they have almost stopped laying again.
It has been about 2 weeks in between the food changes and egg production changes.
My understanding is the spent grain runs about 28% protein and low carbohydrates. Looking at the layer ration bag it seems that the protein/carb ratios are about the same (minus the 8%).
So, what is it about the spent grain that slows my girls down? I've seen numerous posts that tell of folks feeding their hens the spent grain and have seen one other post asking about egg production and the spent grains.
It would be nice to supplement them in the winter anyhow with a free food source.
Any suggestions on how to feed them the grains without losing egg production would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Scott