Switched from layer to chick starter and getting soft shelled eggs

[TheSpiceGirls]

Looking for some advice/guidance.

I have two adult hens and four babies. I'm getting ready to move the chicks out into the run with the big hens. So two weeks ago, I switched the adults to a 50/50 mix layer/chick starter. And a few days ago, I filled up their feeder with just chick starter and they have now eaten all of the layer/chick starter mix and I can see that they are now getting only chick starter.

This morning I found a broken semi soft egg at the coop doorway. And another egg (laid from same hen) laid in the run. She NEVER lays an egg in the run. I should also mention that it was very hot yesterday.

They have a big bowl of oyster shells and I will occasionally put out baked, crushed egg shells.

Does she just need some time to adjust to eating more oyster shells?

Of am I better off keeping the babies separate until point of lay?

I only have the 6 hens and live in the city so I have a small setup so it's tough trying to introduce new hens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

100% of the Calcium in a hen' s egg all comes right out of her own skeleton. Absolutely nothing in the way of old egg shells, or oyster shell in anyway affects your hens egg shell thickness... unless this calcium material is first deposited in your hen's bones. So a hen chow must have added calcium to be sure she has a ready supply. Your hens are either calcium deficient or they are ill.

Because excess calcium in a chicks diet is bad for the chick, most starter/grower feeds are almost calcium free.
Put your hens back on a good balanced layer feed and I thank things will quickly get better eggshell wise. If they don't post again.

 

[aart]

100% of the Calcium in a hen' s egg all comes right out of her own skeleton. Absolutely nothing in the way of old egg shells, or oyster shell in anyway affects your hens egg shell thickness... unless this calcium material is first deposited in your hen's bones. So a hen chow must have added calcium to be sure she has a ready supply. Your hens are either calcium deficient or they are ill.

Because excess calcium in a chicks diet is bad for the chick, most starter/grower feeds are almost calcium free.
Put your hens back on a good balanced layer feed and I thank things will quickly get better eggshell wise. If they don't post again.

So you're saying that oyster shell will not fill a laying hens need for calcium?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Oyster shell will fill the need. I feed everyone a grower ration and each flock has 2 containers of oyster shell. One by the feeder and one by the nests.

A hen will pick up oyster shell as the egg enters the shell gland. The larger particle size will stay in the upper digestive tract longer than the small particle in layer feed. It makes contact with calcium absorption sites at night when the bird isn't eating. While it's true that most of the calcium making up and egg shell comes from the medullary bone, chickens are faster than other animals at passing the calcium from the digestive tract to the reproductive tract so if there's sufficient calcium there, they can make use of it and the rest replenishes the medullary bone. The excess is processed by the kidneys.
It's a delicate balance.

There's a lot of good research based info in this article.

http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

 

[chickengeorgeto]

So you're saying that oyster shell will not fill a laying hens need for calcium?

No not at all. But oyster shell has to be deposited in a hens bones from which the hen then withdraws this calcium as she needs it to produce eggshells.

Well formulated laying pellets and oyster shell are both a fine source of calcium. But this calcium is parked or banked by the hen until she needs it to make eggshells.

 

[aart]

Quote: But you told her to put her hens back on a good layer feed....implying that oyster shell wasn't enough.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

But you told her to put her hens back on a good layer feed....implying that oyster shell wasn't enough.

No I am not implying anything. You seem to be implying that oyster shells and oyster shells alone are sufficient and neither one of us have any evidence that this is true and I would never attempt to keep laying hens without a good free choice source of calcium just as I assume that you would never attempt to keep a flock of layers without a good layer ration.

Besides a good source of animal protein a good laying ration is essential to laying hen health as is a good secondary source of calcium, and either crushed oyster shells, crushed limestone rock, crushed marble, and dairy byproducts are all good sources of calcium.

The starting thread poster indicated that she had transitioned her hens from a laying ration to a chick starter/grower ration and this seems to be when the soft shell egg problem started. Starter grower is very low in calcium because excess calcium in a chicks diet can be bad for a chicks health. So to KISS I recommended a return to a laying ration knowing full well that the OP fed oyster shell free choice. It is fully possible that the change in diet will solve the problem, at least I hope that it will help the spicegirls and their hens. And help for the novice chicken keeper is IMHO what this forum is all about.

There are already enough snake oil and fad diets being dispensed in this old world that if we keep going down this path before long we will be posting about whether Atlantic Oyster Shells, Pacific NW Oyster shells, or Gulf of Mexico Oyster Shells are the one and only calcium source for proper eggshell formation.

 

[aart]

Not oyster shell alone....oyster shell and grower or starter feed.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/886903/switch-to-layer