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cluckynikki

Hen laying/eating softies

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Hello everyone, I am having a problem with one of my two girls who has consistently laid softies for nearly 3 weeks now. She doesn't seem unwell with it, ie not hunched up and still. You wouldn't know there was anything wrong with her.

I have found softies which have fallen through the roosting bars of the eglu virtually on a daily basis. Also twice I have caught Tilly in the act of demolishing an egg - what a funny sight her running round the garden with the shell hanging down from her beak whilst Coffee frantically tries to snatch it off her.

It almost seems like these softies appear with no warning as thy are laid either on the eglu bars or in the garden, not in the nest. Coffee's eggs are left untouched in the nest, so I don't think that they associate the softies with the real eggs.

Things all went strange after I stopped mixing oyster shell in their evening treat. I bought a grit feeder which I hung on the inside of their eglu run so they could help themselves. I have seen Coffee taking grit, but not Tilly.

However, it has been over a week since I went back to mixing grit in with evening treat again, and Tilly is still laying softies.

They have both been wormed as a precaution, but it is starting to get a bit worrying and I fear the day will come when I have to go out and buy some eggs!

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try adding some cod liver oil to they're daily feed ration for a few days it contains vitamin D with helps tha body adzorb calcium Nef life gaurd in the drinking water helps to

if you've got any dandilions growing in the garden they contain calcium to

I should add that one of my girls Big Red as a tendoncy to lay softies when she first started to lay this time last year I had more softies off her than keepers she does seem to need more calcium than most

I slso had a grit feeder that wasn't very well designed so she couldn't sort through the grit to find the bits she liked she's a pickey bird I now use cage cups being wider she can sort through the grit better

It might also take your girls a bit longer to get used to the new grit feeder

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One of my hens (Liberty) started laying a lot of softies - lasted for a few weeks, then she stopped laying for a few weeks. I thought her laying days were over, then all of a sudden she started laying again. Although her shells are often thinner than the others they are perfectly reasonable and she lays most days :)

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That is a tricky habit to break :( . There are various methods:

 

- using a pot egg in the nestbox so they hurt their beaks and hopefully don't try it again

- getting a broken egg and smearing mustard in it

- getting a roll away nestbox (not so easy if you have an eglu but do-able, just)

 

I would try calcium as suggested (either powdered or in liquid form, Zolcal D) with cod liver oil. The oil helps the powder stick to the pellets and aids absorption.

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If you can't get pot eggs try golf balls (although I tried both and neither worked). I also tried the mustard egg trick and that didn't work either. I've been getting softies since before Xmas and have tried limestone flour too, she's a new girl and had only just started laying in December. I decided to have a break from doing anything at all for a few weeks and then restart to see if that helped. Last Friday I started giving them cod liver oil (although Beatrice is the culprit!). First good egg on Saturday and one each day since - the shells are a bit thin but they are undamaged by my naughty chooks.

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I'm having exactly the same thing from Annie. She was laying huge, great eggs every day (almost) for months but the last 3 days has laid softies all over the place, just as you describe. Clarabel is still laying normal, great eggs as usual. Should I worm Annie (if so how)? Does anyone have experience of this - will the eggs come back to normal? Annie does seem to eat her softies as well but I think that is probably ok. Any advice much appreciated. Have only had these two hens, since June 2009. Also are they supposed to moult feathers? Haven't seen any falling out yet. Am feeling a bit of a novice.

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Had a softie again yesterday and the day before Bea dropped an egg whilst free ranging which got eaten. Its weird because she goes into the nesting box to lay but too early (based on the time she laid the previous day). She's a Bluebell Maran and her comb is still not as red as my other girls - she also doesn't do the "cockerel crouch" whenever you go near her so I do wonder if she hasn't fully matured. My other girls are reliable layers (even Shirley who is nearly 4) so its a bit of shame but she's very pretty so we'll let her off!

 

When I worm my girls I use Flubenvet and put it in grapes so I know that they've all had a dose each.

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