AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

My four ISA Brown pullets are nibbling on each others tail feathers occasionally, and I've heard that this can be a sign they need more protein.

I've only had them two weeks, and have been feeding them normal layer's pellets with 15% protein. I've bought a bag of Turkey and Meat Chicken Grower crumbles with 20% protein and have started mixing this with the layer's pellets so they're getting about 17.5% protein now. I don't want to overdo it as I believe it can shorten a chicken's life to overfeed protein, and I certainly don't need to encourage more egg laying as they are already laying one each a day. I also give them a small handful of composting worms a day and have bought a tub of mealworms to multiply and add some protein to their diet regularly in a few months.

Considering the most economical way of feeding and giving them a healthy diet, could I ask what amount of protein do others feed their backyard chickens?

The types of feed available to me are -
20kg layers pellets, 15% protein - $15 (currently using)
20kg layers pellets, 16.5% protein - $20
20kg Meat Chicken Grower crumbles, 20% protein - $25 (currently using)
20kg Meat Chicken Grower Starter crumbles, 22% protein - $25

I am not sure how old your pullets are. Don't start them on layers ration too early as the calcium content is a bit high.I usually start to transition the feed at about 20 weeks. Looks like what you are doing is pretty right and the feather picking may be due to boredom. Perhaps try hanging up a bunch of greens or scattering a bit of scratch grain to keep them occupied.

Thanks for the feedback doggo. They are aged between 19 and 24 weeks and all have started laying.

I think you might be right about the boredom. They are in a tractor which is only getting the wheels put on today. Till now we've been moving them infrequently around without wheels. The wheels will get them onto new ground several times a day. They are most bored approaching dusk, so that will be time for trying those treats you've suggested. Thank you.

How big is your tractor? Do your girls get to free range at all? Chooks need space otherwise they start pecking each other in confined spaces.

Chick starter and grower contains medication for coccidiosis, there is generally a 2 week withholding period from human consumption of eggs.

A tin of fish based cat food or a handful of fish based cat biscuits or a tin of homebrand sardines (69c from Coles) are high in protein and an economical protein supplement boost to a chook's diet.

There are posts on those topics already here.
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=20170

Wow. Good pickup thanks Petite Poulet. Since I only started feeding it to them yesterday afternoon mixed 50/50 with layer pellets, I'm not wasting the eggs. If they'd had it at full strength for a week I'd toss the eggs for sure. The guy in the stock place didn't mention it even though he knew they were layers. I'll tell them next time I'm in. Thanks so much for the warning.

There's no pecking going on and the four are the best of friends. There was just some gentle tail feather nibbling at times. As I said earlier, it may just be boredom from not being moved to fresh ground much and I've put wheels on the tractor today. It's 6ft x 3ft ground space and 3ft high with the roost/nest above and they appear to be happy with the space. Free ranging is out of the question here with roaming dogs and foxes, so a strong weldmesh covered tractor is the only way I can keep them safe.

The occasional sardine treat might be a good idea, though I might increase the compost worm amount for free instead.

Oh no! I hope this isn't the result of feeding a day of that higher protein feed with the antibiotic in it, but my four chickens aren't themselves today, acting kind of hyperactive, and between the four of them (so far) today have laid 6 eggs. No mistake there. They live in a chook tractor and I check for eggs a few times a day. Last time I checked was 6.30 last night.

This morning (10am) there were four eggs in the nest box, two laid by Earlybird who is the only one laying pinkish white speckled eggs. That was a big surprise and I thought no-one would believe me, saying I'd mixed up who was laying what. Mid afternoon I checked them and Brownie was sitting on the ground looking stunned with her tail in the air and a broken soft-shelled egg on the ground next to her. It was upsetting to see her and the egg, and I moved the tractor to avoid the chooks becoming interested in the egg.

Just now I heard some commotion and checked them. Another soft-shelled egg has been laid and they were fighting over the skin and pecking at the yolk. No! That's the sixth egg so far today! I thought five was bad enough. Poor girls. I will never give them anything but layers pellets and natural protein supplement. And I wonder if they've had a bad reaction to that antibiotic, even for eating it for such a short time?

Has anyone else had this sort of thing happen? If so, I'd appreciate knowing please.

It is normal for laying hens to occasionally lay two eggs each at times so don't worry too much about that. As for the soft shelled side of things there are a couple of things you can do, first of all offer a dish of shell grit, available from most produces or pet stores, this can be left in the pen at all times, this will help with calcium which may be lacking in your rations, and is, over time depleted in the laying hen. Another way some do is to crush finely the shells of the eggs and feed them back to the hens.

You may also try to introduce some green feed into their diets, something such as silverbeet as you haven't been able to move them much they will not be getting all that they need vitamin wise from the feed. I feed layer mash at 17.5% protien with calcium added, if I throw one of my eggs they bounce and in the three years I have been using the mash I have never had a soft shelled egg in any of my layers or other hens. The layer mash I am using was formulated by a nutritionist for large scale poultry egg production farms

Hi, Brownie,

It was a gorgeous Spring's day in Victoria today, the hyper activity of your chooks is quite possibly due to the weather and them wanting to bust of of their tractor and enjoy the sunshine, stretch their wings have a dust bath and soak in the Vitamin D which is also essential in egg production and calcium absorption.

Isa Browns are prone to soft shell's as they are bred to produce the maximum amount of eggs in their first season on a poultry farm, so please follow Sebducks advice with the extra shell grit and crushed eggs shells. I wash out my egg shells and bake them in a moderate oven before I crush them.

Silverbeet, spinach, chicory, kale, all dark green leafy vegetables are great supplements and boredom busters.

If you can let your girls out about a hour or two before roost to free range (they should be too hard to round up then) it would be beneficial for them, especially if you can be out with them and supervise them from predators and bond with them.

Thank you Sebducks and Hens and Hobbits. I haven't given them shellgrit yet and will get some tomorrow. They've been getting 4 or 5 large silverbeet leaves, grass clumps with roots and milkthistle plants every day which they love, so maybe not a problem with the greens. Today they were on the grass in the sun and wouldn't touch the silverbeet I put in so I knew something was wrong.

It's pretty scary to find soft eggs suddenly. I searched for soft-egg information after posting here and found the most common reason for them is a shock, with examples given like loud trucks passing or a sudden downpour of rain. I'm guilty yesterday of drilling their tractor while they were in it to get the wheels on, a very noisy job. I won't do that again.
The first soft egg: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8298/7912 ... 6aee_m.jpg
The upsetting noise I made yesterday on their tractor: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8444/7912 ... 8d0c_m.jpg

The lovely weather yesterday had the chickens relaxing and lolling on the grass, but they wanted to go further afield today. After the two soft eggs, my new wheels got jammed in the up position and three got out and headed in different directions. I have no fences and one had headed toward the road by the time I got some worms to lure them back in. At least now I know "chook chook" and dropping a worm each on the ground every 6 feet will get them back home. I have no fences, so free ranging really is out of the question, but I could rig up a few spots under the trees with chookwire for when I'm outside with them.

If you're feeding 17.5% protein Sebducks, that's all I increased it to briefly from 15% so that possibly wasn't a problem.

So it's off to get shellgrit then. The other eggs have all been strong shells and lovely, so I hope today is a once-off. Thanks for the advice and reassurances. It's much appreciated.

Chooks are very sensitive, very curious and very adventurous, the grass is ALWAYS GREENER on the other side of the chook wire or boundary fence.

Where's there's a will there's a way and there is always an escape artist leading the others astray out of their pen or their property when free ranging.

Food treats along with the "took, took" or "chook, chook" call will get your girls back in most cases. Just get them used to the your call and food so that they can associate the two and you can lure them back into their enclosure successfully on most occasions.