Why is nobody laying?!

[NatJ]

Oh, that's true. I didn't think of that.

I know a guy who feeds his girls cat food in addition to regular feed to up their protein. Anybody have thoughts on that?

I've read of the idea. Apparently it works for some people. I have read of other people using food meant for fish.

I've personally used turkey starter or gamebird starter for the same purpose. They can have a protein level almost as high as cat food, but every time I priced them at my local store the turkey starter or gamebird starter was a better deal than the cat food or the fish food (I was comparing dollars per amount of protein, not per pound of food). That is something that may be different in different places.

You could also check the bottom of your freezer, to see if there is any meat or fish you don't want to eat (freezer burned food can be safe but no longer appetizing to people.) That could be cooked up and fed to your chickens. Or they would probably be fine eating it raw, if you prefer to give it to them that way.

 

[MortyschickenShack]

This may be a dumb question, but why would the feed specifically for laying hens not be the right amount of protein?

Earlier this year TSC brand made by Purina, had poor protein and chickens had laying issues all over the country. They had changed their formula. Can find articles about it. Don’t remember if other brands made by purina had issues.

 

[MortyschickenShack]

Well... to each their own, I guess.


Feeding them cat food for a few days in case of illness is one thing, but on a regular basis, a clear no from me.

I would definitely not want to eat eggs from hens that were fed with cat or dog food.

I heard goat feed was a descent sub for low protein feed issues.

 

[NatJ]

I heard goat feed was a descent sub for low protein feed issues.

That would depend on the specific feed. This thread has been discussing whether 16% protein is too low in layer feed. I have not seen any goat feed with a higher protein level than 16%.

If goat feed solved a problem, I think it more likely that the problem was some other nutrient, not low protein. ("more likely" meaning I do not know for sure. And yes, there could be higher protein goat feeds that I simply have not seen.)

As always, read the label, because there are so many variations of "goat feed" and "chicken feed" and "cat food" and so forth.

 

[nuthatched]

Oh, that's true. I didn't think of that.

I know a guy who feeds his girls cat food in addition to regular feed to up their protein. Anybody have thoughts on that?

Because it is cheaper. I ran the calculations to find out how much cat food I need to adjust the protein to 20%. I'm willing to do what it takes, but if I can do it as cheaply as possible, I'd rather do that.

Higher protein layer only costs $4-$5 more. I take it your pal uses the cheapest cat fud, even then, it doesn't save any money then just coughing up an extra $4.
It will offset their proper nutrition to the wrong direction. There's lots of threads on this if you want to look.
Mine won't touch cat food.

 

[nuthatched]

I heard goat feed was a descent sub for low protein feed issues.

It isn't. And contains toxic levels of metals fir anything except goats

 

[The1andOnlyGAChickenKing]

It's not the feed. I'm sure of that. Those people with the opinions do not know this for a fact.

People love to just repeat anything they hear like a parrot.

 

[Shadrach]

I just need to clear a couple of things up here.
16% layers feed is fine for laying hens. The larger breeds just eat more. Providing a higher protein feed may have other benefits but I very much doubt it will solve your lack of eggs problem.
To make this quite clear and to dispel the notion that modern high production breeds need higher levels of protein to be productive here is a link to a UK feed company. If you have a look through their range you will notice that the majority of the layer feeds are 16% protein. I think it's reasonably safe to state that if feeds with this protein level didn't provide enough protein people wouldn't buy these feeds and the chicken related media would be full of posts complaining that their laying hens were not laying.

https://www.farmandpetplace.co.uk/s...d/marriages-everyday-layers-pellets-20kg.html

This is a link to Amazon's chicken feed first page in the UK. The majority of the feeds here are 16% protein. The same arguement as above applies.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=chicke...&sprefix=chicken+feed,aps,85&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Are there advantages to providing a higher protein feed? Possibly, but they have more to do with the hens overall longterm health than the amount of eggs they lay.

I have fed hens here in the UK and in Europe 16% protein feed and these hens were free range. There was no apparent impact in the reduction of the overall protein intake should the notion that ranging hens forage contribution reduces the amount of protein they need in their diet. In fact thye laid like troopers and lived to ripe old age provided a predator didn't get them.

While medicated feed does not prevent coccidiosis it does help chicks build up a tolerance to the strain that is prevelant in their environment. Whether one should be eating eggs from a chicken eating medicated feed should be a non issue because the medicated feed should only be given to non laying chicks.

Even high production breeds such as Red Sex Links, Golden Comets, Hi Line, Red Rocks, etc do not lay every day all year round once they reach the age of 18 months approximately. This is why they get "retired" at this age. The winter (roughly) after their 18th month usually involves a time off laying period, be that at moulting time or not.

Older hens lay fewer eggs in general so the age of your hens needs to be considered as does the time of year (?)
Apart from the possibility that your hens are taking a break from laying, the next thing that in my experience is likely to prevent a hen laying is stress. Have you made any changes to your keeping arrangements recently? Have you had a predator incident or a recent introduction of new hens?

There is ceratainly no harm in providing a higher protein feed up to say 18%, or supplementing their diet with plain fish/meat which will provide a complete protein boost but as a remedy for lack of eggs I suggest you consider other factors.

 

[nuthatched]

Earlier this year TSC brand made by Purina, had poor protein and chickens had laying issues all over the country. They had changed their formula. Can find articles about it. Don’t remember if other brands made by purina had issues.

Feed was never the issue except maybe people feeding poor quality feed.
Feel free to link those threads, they prove that any feed by any particular company was never an issue. :]

 

[The1andOnlyGAChickenKing]

It's really a shame that this idea that 16% isn't enough protein is everywhere you look on the internet.

Most of the people who claim this isn't enough protein free range and supplement extra protein anyway, through treats and such.

It is enough protein if fed exclusively.. it is certainly enough when used for free range chickens with access to bugs all day.

Truth is if you free range your birds you could get by with corn and free choice oyster shells.

I hope that someday we can move past the same repeated internet chanting, that is most always not based on fact.. or even personal experience.