What's wrong with my eggs???

[rodriguezpoultry]

This is what I look for. See how the disc is tight and you can clearly see the definition of the bullseye? This is what I see in all of my eggs. I don't feed Purina so I'm not sure as to the ingredients in there. I know plenty of people use it, so no idea if that might be the problem on your area. Is it possible that your male just can't reach the mark since he does have English Orpington blood and the increased feathering that happens with that?

 

[WRVgirl]

Thank you so much for the picture.

Is it possible that this is happening because he's just too young? And still figuring out his way around the girls?

 

[Chris09]

Well I'm going to go out on a limb a say this,

If it was me I would pull vent feathers on both the males and females, dust them with a good poultry dust them, then take them off everything and just feed good starter/grower feed that is at least 18% protein. Your feeding a bunch of stuff that is depleting the protein of your feed, Layena is only 16% protein and fermented it could be 2% more +/- .
Then adding all the grain your feed might be 14% protein.

Chris

 

[missnu01]

Nothing to do with fertility...but I have some chicks that are in the big coop with the older birds, and since the older birds can eat the starter food they all look better and give me larger eggs...so when in doubt up the protein...can't hurt...
I have heard that cochins are hard to breed because they are so fluffy, and young roosters will have less fertility than older roosters I believe. My eggs are all fertile, but I also have only 3 laying hens and 2 adult roosters...one young, and one old...Like senior rooster, but he still gets around obviously. So give them a trim, and some starter feed and see if that doesn't help...and just a thought Purina has been poisoning quite a few animals here lately, so you might wanna try a different brand.

 

[WRVgirl]

There is so much conflicting information here....and the more I read, the more my head hurts.

The people on the FF feed thread swear by the FF and adding grains in the winter and whatnot, and my girls won't touch dry feed anymore since I've started giving them the mash.

I just don't understand how chickens do this on their own in nature....lol....it seems like everything I do just makes the situation more complicated.

Thanks for the information though.
The only reason I've bought the layena is because I had a bunch of people swear that it's the best possible feed you can give the chicken blah blah blah.

I was on the southern states feed, maybe I'll switch back to that once I run out of this stuff, the flock seemed to prefer the southern states better anyway.

But, I guess chicken ownership is a continual learning experience, yeah? lol

 

[missnu01]

We use Southern states, and I like their feed...right now I have some All Grain brand starter I think...but my favorite was Big M, or Circle M...Either way I didn't notice any difference until recently when the big chickens started eating a ton of the chicks food, which is that All Grain stuff. I've been saving all my egg shells for months and giving that to them on the side basically so they are still getting the calcium, and they are still eating their laying pellets, just nowhere near as much as they are eating the chick food. At first I was trying to figure out a way to get the big ones to stop, but then I noticed that they all looked better and as I said the eggs started getting bigger. Next food trip I will be getting some 18-ish % flock raiser and oyster shells and that is what i will feed all the chickens.

 

[WRVgirl]

Yeah. Mine get oyster shell as well....

I'll definitely be going back to the southern states feed.

I HATE purina. I bough a 50lb bag of start and grow and when I opened it and poured it into the feed bin, it was full of little brown bugs. Talk about a gag reflex!
The feed store replaced it with a different brand, so I didn't really want to buy it again, but I was pushed and told it was the best by friends...

I should have gone with my gut. Guess I'll be heading over to Southern States tomorrow.

 

[Chris09]

There is so much conflicting information here....and the more I read, the more my head hurts.

The people on the FF feed thread swear by the FF and adding grains in the winter and whatnot, and my girls won't touch dry feed anymore since I've started giving them the mash.

I just don't understand how chickens do this on their own in nature....lol....it seems like everything I do just makes the situation more complicated.

Thanks for the information though.
The only reason I've bought the layena is because I had a bunch of people swear that it's the best possible feed you can give the chicken blah blah blah.

I was on the southern states feed, maybe I'll switch back to that once I run out of this stuff, the flock seemed to prefer the southern states better anyway.

But, I guess chicken ownership is a continual learning experience, yeah? lol

Why are they saying to offer grains in the winter?

I feed Purina but not there cheaper made stuff that doesn't have animal proteins in it.
I feed - -
Chicks - http://www.wildlife.purinamills.com/products/ECMD2-0017382.aspx
Adults - 1/3 Game Bird Conditioner http://www.wildlife.purinamills.com/products/ECMD2-0017383.aspx, 1/3 Purina Game Fish Feed http://www.wildlife.purinamills.com/products/ECMD2-0017380.aspx and 1/3 A grain mix that I mix.

On a side note, chickens are "man made" and there closest "relative" in the wild is the Jungle Fowl.

Chris

 

[WRVgirl]

But that's all we have in my area.

A rental company that sells some southern states stuff, and the garden center that is a purina distribution center.

I wish I could just mix in the vanilla protein powder I use for my shakes! lol
Ha ha ha

Would it be wrong to give the chickens a protein shake in the morning?

Think they'd like vanilla crème or banana strawberry better?

 

[WRVgirl]

I've always envisioned chickens being closely related to dinosaurs.
Like little velociraptors with feathers...

Because god knows that's how they act when I offer them treats.