Want to improve egg quality. What to look for in feed.

[Castlemaid]

I've been feeding 16% layer pellets, and I have noticed a huge difference this year between the winter eggs (chickens mainly getting only feed and scratch) and summer eggs (chickens freeranging on acreage). I live in a pretty remote area in BC, and we only have feed from a relatively local feed plant. Specific ingredients are not published, only percentages of main nutrients.

I used to be happy with the quality of the winter egg, but I noticed this past winter the eggs were thin shelled, the whites runny, and the yolks pale. Egg quality shot up as soon as the snow melted and the birds started free-ranging again. It looks like the plant may have switched up their ingredients.

So I wonder for next winter coming up, what should I feed my chickens? Would upping to a higher percentage feed help? Supplement with specific goodies? Again, no name-brand feeds are available here, so I'm looking for general advice on improving winter egg quality.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I would recommend a 18%+ protein feed. Do you know the percentage of calcium?

 

[Castlemaid]

Thank you Lemon-Drop, I wasn't sure if upping protein affected egg quality. It certainly won't hurt to switch and see. I just checked the calcium content, it is 4.5%. The chickens do get oyster shell, but they don't seem to care for it much.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I think the key is in your OP. You say egg quality improved when the chickens began to free range. They get greens and bugs when they forage. The problem is not in the feed formula, it's in the fact that they don't get fresh food in the winter. Fresh greens make the yolks a deeper color.

As to the thin shells, do you provide oyster shell in a separate container year round?

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oops, I see that you do provide OS.

 

[Castlemaid]

Fresh greens in the winter is a challenge: First, they usually ignore them. Second, I leave for work at 6:30 am, and it's dark until 8 am. The coop is not wired, so no artificial light for the chickens to wake up and get active. Fresh greens freeze in that time, so no way they are going to eat it.

Then it's getting dark by the time I get home, so again, birds will not be eating. We're talking November to March - yup, I live pretty far north.

The previous winters, I was feeding the same feed, and the eggs were great, and this last winter, something changed. I'm thinking the feed changed, so trying to figure out what I have to change to make up for it.

Yes, they have access to oyste shell all the time.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Thinking of things they probably get themselves in summer but can’t in winter, I’d agree on the extra protein...to replace bugs and worms

Additionally, maybe some greens? Some dark green kale or spinach, maybe some hay (cut short is safest) to replace grass they may be eating in summer?

 

[Castlemaid]

OP?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I cross replied your post, so missed that fresh veggies are tough.

I wonder if they’d eat alfalfa pellets? They’re not my flock’s favorite but they will eat it.

 

[Castlemaid]

Some hay may be a good idea in addition to higher protein feed. That makes me think I could dry some other greens and offer that in the winter. (ETA: and alphalpha pellets too!)