4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Lizzie]

Our older chooks seem to be laying a lot of soft eggs at the moment - its not a problem for us, but it makes them so poorly.

 

Henrietta had some shell poking out of her vent on Saturday, we got out what we could out, (a piece would not come out without pulling her insides out too) and she was ok for the rest of the day. We have read that if you give some zolcal, directly administered, it can help pass anything else that needs to come out, so we gave her a small dose to try and help.

On Sunday, she passed the remenants of the broken shell and an egg and was absolutely fine for the rest of the day, usual digging antics, eating and drinking etc

 

Harriet was exactly the same (not the soft shell poking out though) and we have given her a dose of zolcal too (not the recommended dose in either case).

 

Later yesterday afternoon, Henrietta was not right. Her comb had started to turn purple. I checked the omlet forum and read that this could be a heart problem.

I brough her in last night and made her comfortable. This morning when I went to see her, she had sadly died. She had made it to her food / water bowls but then must have passed away.

 

This is my third chook in four weeks.

 

Harriet is fine (she was before the end of the day)

 

We are obviously very sad to lose Henrietta but glad that she has enjoyed happy times and she knows that she was loved very much

 

Why are we getting so many soft eggs ? They have very few treats, have been wormed and their house treated for red mite

 

Is giving zolcal an ok thing ? I am worried in case I did something wrong which caused Henrietta to die.

I think her heart gave up.

 

Any advice welcome

 

Sad mum (again)

[shtw00724]

Lizzie

 

I don't have any advice but I am really sorry to hear about you losing your chooks.

 

I am fairly new to all this and one of my ex-bats is really poorly and another's comb has started to turn purple.

 

I am sorry to trouble you at your time of grief but can you tell me how long between spotting the purple comb and your chook dieing? I am obviously worried for the reason given above.

 

I really don't feel like I'm gemmed up enough on all this chook stuff and don't know for the most part what is normal and what isn't.

 

None of my ex-bats are very well covered either so I'll be watching your other thread for replies. I need to worm them; do you have to get a prescription from the vet?

 

Thinking of you at this sad time and hope you get some answers from the experts here.

 

Susie

[Lizzie]

sorry you are having problems too - Henrietta's comb started to turn purple late yesterday afternoon, (just the back tips).

We put her in her nest box to rest and she came down an hour or so later and had a drink.

As she was still poorly at their bed time, we brought her in to our house with a hot water bottle, food and water.

We found her at 05:45 this morning, but think she had been dead for quite a few hours considering how stiff she was.

 

Whatever time they have is better than none at all. It is always sad to lose a chook and I wish we were not losing so many but at least they are passing away in relative freedom

 

Best wishes

 

Liz

[Egluntyne]

How much Zolcal did you give her.....you say not the recommended dose?

 

What have you wormed them with?

[Lizzie]

Hi Egluntine

We are worming with Flubenvet and the recommended dosage was 2ml - we gave 1 ml

 

Regards

Liz

[Egluntyne]

In that case I'm sure it will have done no harm

 

Flubenvet is the best wormer imho.

[Lizzie]

Thank you for that

I have been thinking about this more and wondering if she dies due to blood loss ?

There was blood with the broken shell she passed and a small amount of blood on the egg that came out afterwards.

 

I only think of this as the first hen we lost suddenly and I am sure this was because of the amount of blood she lost when she caught her claw. It just would not stop bleeding at the time.

 

Is internal bleeding another reason for the comb to turn purple ?

 

Regards

Liz

[Egluntyne]

Doesn't sound an awful lot. I expect it was stress/shock that killed her. Poor thing. Nothing you could have done would have changed that.

[Budgies]

I'm really sorry to hear about Henrietta, it's always so sad to lose a little chickeny friend.

 

I'm sure you know all this, but as you asked why you're getting lots of softies right now, here's what my vet told me.

 

Unfortunately with the hybrids there's sometimes just a problem and nothing you do has much effect. However, the calcium they're getting to help form the eggshells must be in a type that's easily assimilated.

 

Ground up baked eggshells and oyster shell grit aren't the best way of getting calcium into their systems, unfortunately.

 

I know some people swear by limestone flour (which is calcium carbonate) and my vet recommends cuttle fish bone. Grind it in a pestle and mortar and add about 1tsp per hen to their food or porridge or treats each day.

 

Despite doing this one of my girls always did soft shelled eggs as she came back into lay each year for a couple of weeks, but the other hen did eggshells like bullets!!

 

Good luck with the others, hope they soon start laying properly again

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'm so sorry to hear your sad news . I'm sure you couldn't have done anything to prevent it so don't blame yourself.

 

I'm getting loads of softies at present and have been giving Zolcal too.

[Lizzie]

Many thanks for that Budgies. I had been giving them Zolcal in their water but too much calcium can do them more harm than good.

I did buy some cuttle fish but they just looked at me as if to say, "what on earth is that ?"

 

I will give that a bash, Harriet has just layed a yolk this evening, no shell at all, so am hoping that this might help. Dorothy is laying wonderful eggs every day as are the two little ones. Barbara doesn't seem to be laying at all at the moment - its no problem as long as she is ok.

 

Anyhow, thanks again and hopefully all will be well

 

Best wishes

 

Liz

[Budgies]

Yes, unlike other birds I've never known a chicken willingly peck at a cuttle fish bone!! You do have to "hide" the powder in their meal/pellets or porridge.

 

I've never heard of Zolcal previously so can't opine!

 

Hope all goes well