Found out my hens need way more calcium than I thought

I was reading through some extension service fact sheets from my local university last week and found out laying hens need about 4-5 grams of calcium per day. That's way more than I figured, since a standard layer feed only has around 3.5% calcium. I started giving them crushed oyster shells on the side and within two weeks the eggshells went from thin and cracked to nice and hard. Has anyone else noticed a big difference after adding extra calcium to their flock?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian86511d ago

Honestly that "standard layer feed only has around 3.5% calcium" part jumped out at me. Did you check if your feed's calcium level changes with the season or if it's just one fixed formula? I feed a mix of crumbles and scratch, and I never thought to look at the calcium percentage until my shells got paper thin last month. Now I'm wondering if I should crush up eggshells too or just buy oyster shells straight up.

avery_stone9511d ago

My buddy Dave in Ohio switched to oyster shells after his hen started laying eggs that cracked just from getting picked up. He told me @brian865 that the eggshell crunching thing worked okay but he got tired of smelling burnt calcium in his kitchen. Now he just buys a bag of oyster shells for $8 and says it lasts his six hens about four months.