Tried giving my hens crushed eggshells for calcium and ended up with a feather eating problem

I thought I was being smart recycling eggshells back to my 6 Rhode Island Reds last month, but one of them started pecking at the others' feathers and now I'm scrambling to figure out if it's a protein deficiency or just bad habits - has anyone else had their flock go weird on a simple diet change like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_reese19d ago

Jump right in with the protein thing because that's probably the real issue here. When I started crushing shells too fine for my Barred Rocks, one of them went after the soft feather bases on the others' backs like they were snacks. Turns out eggshells don't have any protein, they're just calcium carbonate, and feathers are made of keratin which is basically pure protein. If you're not feeding a high enough protein layer feed or supplementing with meat meal or black soldier fly larvae, those hens will start hunting for it in the worst places. I'd switch to a 18-20% protein feed for a week or two and see if the pecking calms down before they turn it into a full blown habit.

rileygonzalez19d ago

Whoa hold on, I gotta push back on that a little. I've been running a small flock for years and I've seen high protein feeds cause just as many problems as low ones, especially if the birds aren't getting enough exercise to burn it off. That extra protein can make them hyper and irritable, and sometimes they start pecking even more because they're just wound up. Plus, if you bump up the protein and the calcium levels shift wrong, you might end up with eggs getting weird shells or even internal laying issues in the long run. I'd rather see someone add more free range time or give them something boring to peck at like a cabbage head instead of messing with their feed.