Feeding advice for bantams (one broody, one moulting)

[Paul]

My Bluebell eats the same layer pellets as my ginger and black rock.same grit but her eggshells are virtually nil or she doesnt lay at all. The other two produce great eggs. If she does lay they are small and shells very hard.

Any ideas.

 

Thanks in advance

 

Paul

[surferdog]

Hi Paul, I've got the same problem with my Bluebelle. I was advised to get some limestone flour and add to their feed. It has helped the problem but not cured it but at least we are getting a few eggs now in between the softies.

[daj198]

I have the same problem with Penny, sometimes we just get a membrane with the contents of the egg at the bottom of the nest box. She trys to lay everyday and she's an old chicken, I thought maybe that was the problem. I'd prefer no eggs from her rather than soft eggs, maybe we could make them go broody for a while to recover from over-laying.

 

Limestone flour sounds good- might try that. I think that some hens are not able to keep up with the pace of egg laying they were bred for.

[Gamebird]

If your Bluebelle is quite young then it could be that her egg laying equipment is immature and she will eventually sort herself out.

 

Limestone flour is an excellent supplement to ensure that they have enough calcium to form hard shells.

 

My Bluebelle was exactly the same. I think she laid about 10 softies but she is getting into her stride and now lays hard shelled eggs.

[Lizzy]

Had this problem with Gert, one of my Light Sussex, we worried about her for weeks but now she seems to have got into her stride. This morning she laid a perfect egg, right size, right shape and right shell. I think she was trying to lay too early and her system wasn't geared up for it. She is a lovely hen and we did all sorts of things to help her. Eventually, as I said on another thread, we fed her chick meal which took her off lay and then kept her off lay for a while. Good luck everyone.