Unpopular opinion: letting your flock free range isn't always better

I let my hens out in the yard for about 6 months and noticed their egg shells got way thinner and they started getting into fights more. Turns out they weren't getting enough calcium since they stopped eating their layer feed and just went for bugs and grass. Anyone else see a drop in egg quality after switching to free range?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason2831mo ago

Yeah "the calcium issue is real" is right but I think it goes deeper than just chicken feed. It's like how people jump into a new diet without thinking about what they're missing. They cut out processed food but forget to replace the vitamins and minerals. Same thing with free ranging, you swap one system for another and assume it's all good. Gotta look at the whole picture, not just one change.

fisher.diana1mo ago

I let my hens out in the yard for about 6 months" and saw thin shells too, so that tracks. The calcium issue is real, but it's usually more about them skipping the layer feed than the free ranging itself. Keeping a dish of oyster shells out separate from their food can fix it, and they'll still get to scratch around for bugs.