The owner of the feed store says that....

[deerman]

Quote:
I will agree with you 100%. Don't come running to me asking why your birds quit laying when you don't feed anything but free range, crack corn or some diddle feed the feed store guy told you would be just fine! 2 years at tops and your hens are done in. No wonder people process their hens early for not laying anymore than they do. I have 7 and 8 year old hens that are laying quite well for their age.

I also have seen the same thing , guy ask me why the white rocks he got from me at 6 months of age were not laying, yep he was only feeding corn, i ask why ,because it was CHEAPER....ok feed them the cheaper feed ,and get few eggs, of feed a good layer and get almost a eggs a day per hen. AS THE OLD SAYING YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Quote:
Actually, the studies have been done many, many times. The evidence is consistent. The worldwide poultry industry is a multi-billion dollar business. State Agricultural universities constantly publish studies on poultry diet research, as does the poultry genetics/breeding/growing industry. They can well afford to fund these studies and absolutely pay close attention to every detail. Here are just a very small sample of the published documents that confirm young pullets fed a high (layer) calcium diet do indeed suffer sobering health effects. The scientific information is available, if one wishes to consider it.

http://ps.fass.org/cgi/content/full/87/7/1353

http://www.dekalbpoultry.com/vetinfo/VSB 1040699.pdf

http://www.cockatiels.org/ownersandenthusiasts/calcium-needs-and-dangers.htm