Calcium for the Laying Hens

One thing we've come to understand is that hens need to have a balanced diet (just like humans), in order for everything to work right.  In the Spring and Summer months, there is variety in the pasture and the hens are quite adept at seeking out bugs, worms, grass, seeds, frogs, etc. to satisfy their bodies' nutritional requirements. The animal kingdom is such that they know what they need.  As a side note, Tricia noticed that Maggie was licking her arm.  We purchased a salt block and Maggie licked it like there was no tomorrow.  Animals know what they need, but I digress.

In the winter months we have noticed that there is not much variety at the hens' buffet table, so we've begun to supplement with 17% protein laying pellets.  In just a few short weeks after supplementing with just a little bit of feed, we've seen the egg production skyrocket from 5 eggs a day to 48!  Now causation doesn't equal or imply correlation, but we feel pretty positive that the birds were lacking in nutrition and I remember from biology class that the first thing the body shuts down is the reproductive cycle when nutritive needs aren't being met.

One other thing we've learned sounds just like common sense, but might not be something that you'd think about.  A hen's egg is almost 95% calcium.  A barred rock hen will lay almost an egg every day (they will average about 1 egg every 36 hours). If you think about that they are depleting a lot of calcium from their bodies' stores every time they lay an egg.  We have a container of crushed oyster shells that we leave out in the hen house for them to eat, cafeteria style.

Crushed Oyster Shells

We purchase this from the feed store.  I checked the bag and this oyster shell comes from Mobile, Alabama. It is interesting to me that a company has found an outlet for all their waste.  After harvesting the oyster itself, the company has marketed the shell as well.

As we were discussing earlier, animals just know what they need.  As I added some oyster shells to the container, Ol' Sally walked up and started pecking at the oyster shells.

Sally working on her calcium deficiency

Adding adequate calcium to the hens' diets will enable them to continue laying beautiful eggs with hard shells. In an on-going cycle, we collect the eggs and eat them and then compost the egg shells.  That same calcium that assisted the hens in laying eggs for us to eat, will in turn be worked into the soil via compost and will produce healthy vegetables for us that will provide calcium for our bodies too!