Young chickens oyster shell dilemma

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I am kind of confused by this statement. The laying hen is the one not getting what she needs.
Not talking about the laying hen. I am talking about the babies. The laying hen will get back to laying when she is ready. I also advise to remove her from the babies. She might get back to laying faster.

It depends on how many eggs the hen lays. Is it is a heavy layer, then yes, it will be hard for her to keep her calcium at what she needs it to be.
Again no. It does not take long at all. Again take her out of where the babies are, and she will balance out faster.
 
So, you are saying, there is a lot of calcium on the ground, that you put there and you want to give them MORE? That is on you.
No, it is naturally occurring. It was the sea bed at one time.
Rare? What
Yes, I would call isolating a single chicken in that manner very rare. Even breeders will bring in two or three.
 
Yeah, I can't imagine a reality where chicks are shoveling down the oyster shells (it is hard enough to get hens to eat it) but it is a good point to be really careful of their calcium intake.
Oyster shells don't come in ALL one size bits. There are anything from quarter size to dust. So they can eat the stuff.
 
Actually NOT fine. If they start too early it will stunt their growth. The calcium that is meant to go to shell production gets use in the bone production instead. At this point the bones are not yet fully hardened because they are still growing. If there is extra calcium they will harden premature. AKA stunt their growth.
I have had many, many youngster try out the shell grit, and never, ever had a problem from it.
How many chicks have you had that got stunted?
 
I have had many, many youngster try out the shell grit, and never, ever had a problem from it.
How many chicks have you had that got stunted?
None since I don't feed them calcium (other than what's in the starter). Stands to reason.
 
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I was just wondering if anyone has actually seen them eat any significant amount of it. I never have. I imagine the amount they would eat wouldn't cause any harm to them at all.
Why haven't you? Maybe because people don't do it. Maybe people learned. Much like you don't hear about people dying of bacteria in the water here in the states at least, much. Why because, people have learn not to drink stuff that hasn't been treated, like the city water. City water being the starter feed.

When Not to Add Calcium

"Young birds should never eat high calcium diets. Having more calcium than they can adequately absorb causes damage to their kidneys and therefore can shorten their lifespan."

So the calcium in the starter feed = regular diet, plus any extra = high
 
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