Cube mk2 and WIR

[mostin]

My adopted hens arrived on Sunday, they are already laying.

 

Mon - Priscilla layed her first egg for us in nest box, everything fine.

 

Tue - she layed a softie between the wooden percehes

 

Wed - she layed again in the nest box but this egg looked half brown and half white

 

Today - she has laid another softie between the wooden bars.

 

Is she still upset from the move or am I doing something wrong? I am only feeding them layers pellets with a handful of treats in the afternoon.

 

They are on a lawn where they are happily digging all the moss out, but they were free ranging on grass before I got them.

 

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as I would hate to think she was ill or in some distress and I didn't know it.

Edited September 6, 2008 by Guest

[stoice]

Could be the move but also make sure they have plenty of access to calcium.

 

I ensure they have a galley pot full of crushed oyster shell and grit they have access to at all times. I also put some limestone flour in their mash when i make a porridge with water. (You can get it from reptile shops or ebay) about a teaspoon mixed in every other day. My Babs gets quite depressed when she's working on a softie - you may notice Priscilla doing the same. Babs sometimes lays an egg without shell - just the membrane, or sometimes she delivers the yolk, then white and then the shell but it looks more like a papery ribbon. They don't feel like a normal egg so they often take them by surprise - which means they can be 'dropped' anywhere.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

When they start laying, the odd softie is not unusual. Once she gets the hang of the whole business she should be fine . Good advice from Stoice on how to minimise softies .

[mostin]

I will get some grit and some of the supplements you have recommended and see if that helps her at all.

 

Fiingers crossed for tomorrow morning anyway though.

[bokbokbok]

This morning I had TWO softies sitting between the bars and touching the shed wall, where Izzie and Buffy were roosting last night. Izzie, I had decided was too old to lay so I am happy to be proven wrong - Buffy has been laying hard shells all along but never outside of the nest box. They were touching each other and I am finding it weird that two birds laid two eggs side by side - not in the nest box - both softies.

 

I know it looks like a lack of calcium etc but there has always been a source of grit / oyster shell in the run, both in a holder and scattered on the run floor, they free-range and there is plenty of layers mash / bokashi bran for them. I mix in Poultry Spice to their food every morning too.

 

I suppose I am a little surprised at there being two - had there been only one it would have been easier to take it in my stride.

 

Please feel free to heeelllllpppp meeeeeee

[mostin]

Hi Bokbokbok,

 

I haven't had a softie from priscilla today but that is because she hasn't layed at all today.

 

I ordered all the supplements from ebay last night and will start mixing them in as soon as they arrive.

 

I will keep you updated on what happens in case it helps you too, and other people may post advice or stories here too as well I hope that may help us both.

 

I hope all of our hens get over whatever the problem is soon.

 

Fingers crossed for you

[bokbokbok]

Thank you

 

I have been thinking about this all day today and was wondering if by some fluke BOTH were from the same girl - instead of a double yolker with good shell - two softies? It would make more sense if it was possible!

 

Anyone have any thoughts on THAT possibility?

[mot336]

I have also had 2 softies laid on the roosting bars this week! Interesting comment about being from the one hen, Lizzie has just started laying and I thought they were both from her but wasnt sure, the more I think about it the more it makes sense.

[Janty]

Limestone flour is a really good thing to use. I put a tablespoon or two in their morning layers mash porridge. One of my girls always lays two or three softies when she has been broody.

[mostin]

Just to let you all know that thanks to your kind advice I think I have worked out my hen is suffering from two syndromes.

 

The first is - Stupid mummy, spoiling her girls with too many treats syndrome,

 

The second is - Greedy guts Priscilla nicking all the chicken treats from Lillian.

 

Put these two together and it explains the lack of shells.

 

I have now installed a strict no treats untill after 4pm rule.

 

The Oyster shell and Limestone flour haven't arrived yet but this morning I made porridge from hot water, pellets and chicken spice. They wouldn't touch it at first, but I refused to be out foxed (excuse the pun) by a chicken, so I relaxed my treat rule and mixed 10 dried meal worms in to the porridge. This did the trick, and they guzzled it down.

 

Hopefully this will help my ladies get back on track.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I got 3 eggs and 1 softie (from 3 girls) yesterday . Think it was Maisie who's been laying peculiar eggs with rough white deposits on them for ages (and a torpedo yesterday ).