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Talked to a guy at the feed store who made me rethink my chicken feed
He said I was wasting money on those layer pellets with extra calcium since my girls get plenty from oyster shells on the side. Switched to a plain grower feed last month and they're still laying fine, saving me $12 a bag. Anyone else cut out the fancy additives and see no difference?
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the_jordan4mo ago
Have you actually checked your calcium levels on a standard grower feed label though? Most grower feeds only run around 1% calcium while laying hens need at least 3.5% for proper eggshell strength. I tried the same shortcut last summer and ended up with a bunch of thin shelled eggs that broke way too easy in the nest boxes. Oyster shells help but hens don't always eat enough of them on their own to make up the difference.
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keith9434mo ago
I switched to a layer-specific feed last spring after my own scratch mix experiment left me with eggs that cracked just from picking them up. The bag label on my Purina Layena showed 4.0% calcium compared to the 1.2% in the grower feed I was using before. Oyster shells are a nice backup but my hens just ignored them until I crunched them into their wet mash, so I wouldn't rely on that alone.
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