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Biker Betty

Softies - tried everything.

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Hello all

 

I've got a couple of ex batts and they went off lay for quite a while this winter. They have come back into lay quite well now but the shells are very soft or sometimes non-existent. This is obviously causing them some stress and discomfort. I did have lots of softie problems last year but this seems worse this year I now haven't had a hard shell for over a month.

 

They always have plenty of grit - which they do eat- and I have tried everything I can think of - limestone flour, ground cuttlefish bones, zolcal-d, cod liver oil.

 

Can anyone suggest anything else at all?

 

B

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A lot of people are having the same problem. I have one that was laying softies a week ago and her feathers are not a bright and lovely as they usually are, she just looks a bit low. I have taken them off layers pellets, added calcium (zolcal) and am giving a poultry mix. Mine laid all over the winter and I wonder if they need some time off perhaps (a bit of clutching at straws going on :roll: ) SInce taking them off pellets I have not had any softies (very few eggs too). I will reintroduce pellets in a week or 2 and see what happens. Just be wary about adding too much calcium to feed. As long as they have a source of calcium combined with vitamin D which enables absorption then that should be enough. Overdoing it may be as bad as underdoing it.

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Thanks for the replies. I haven't tried lifeguard before - to be honest I has always assumed it was a bit like poultry spice which I use regularly.

 

As for too much - I don't think I have been giving them too much at the moment. I've been doing it in quite a scientific experiment way so give them nothing for a couple of weeks as a control, then trying each remedy in turn for a week or so with a gap in between each. But nothing at all has worked so far. I did have limited success with grated cuttlefish bone last year but only for a little while and now it seems useless. I always give them cod liver oil with any form of calcium to help them absorb it. Oh and they eat loads of dandelions in my garden too! And they get the odd bit of cabbage with plenty of calcium in it.

 

I feed them a mixture of layers pellets and mash - but I'm not sure what poultry mix is - I'm not sure as I've even seen it before to be honest.

 

I have also tried the ex batt feed but that did no good either. I always put it down to them being ex batts and the fact that they're a bit 'spent' on egg laying but to be honest, they're laying on most days now - I just can't get the eggs as the girls eat them before I get there. If I could just sort the shells, it would be great for me and for them.

 

I hate keeping chickens and buying eggs from the supermarket - it feels very un-just!

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Hi ... I'm sure you've probably tried this and to be honest I am amazed and quite unsure as to whether it's some kind of random coincidence.

 

Ezzie had been laying softees, sometimes two very close together :( ... their diet is layers pellets, free ranging and probably too many treats!!!

 

3 days ago I gave her two egg shells crushed with a pestle and mortar, mixed with weetabix and a blob of plain probiotic yoghurt. She loved it. The next morning she laid a small but perfect egg.

 

That day I returned her to her normal diet of pellets with a treat of museli and yoghurt but no egg shells. The next morning she laid a softee again.

 

Yesterday I ground up just one egg shell and mixed it in with the pellets. This morning she laid another normal egg :think:

 

Today I got them some limestone flour, some chicken spice and some cod liver oil. There are 8 of them in total so this is what I did today ... any comments as to whether it's right or wrong would be very much appreciated.

 

Two tablespoons of cod liver oil went into a plastic tub and I distributed it around the whole of the inside of the tub. I then added 8 handfuls of layers pellets and put the lid on and shook it to coat the pellets. I then added two tablespoons of the limestone flour and a half tablespoon of chicken spice and put the lid back on and shook it again to coat the pellets.

 

The Ezzies seemed to love it but is it going to be good for them :anxious:

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Do you know, reading all this has made me realise that I haven't tried the one remedy which is probably the oldest of them all - baked crushed egg shells.

 

I'm going to try it this week and we'll see how we get on.

 

Mine will eat anything if it's with yoghurt and weetabix!

 

Sounds like the cod liver oil and limestone flour is ok - that's the kind of thing I've been doing. I'd be interested to know if you have better results than with the egg shells.

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sometimes nothing works, it just is :( I always use the baked crushed egg shells, and they all eat pretty much the same, some lay smashing hard shells others sadly not so. That said ex bats need all the extra calcium they can have really to help them make up the deficit.

This though like many things is contraversial, I have had 3 different vets tell me you can't easily give them too much but then read on forums that too much is not good for them, so who do you believe???

I do recall many people reporting that ex bat food very weirdly increases soft eggs!!! The opposite of expectastions, and incidently I have been adding good amounts to my normal mash and am getting a few more softees than I would expect.

However as Chucky Mama has said a few are having the same problem, it might be nice weather more freeranging less mash????

It isn'y always just calcium, it is time in the shell gland and condition of the shell gland.

good luck.

oh sdome swear by adding seaweed powder too.

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Thanks Sandy - its good to know I'm not the only one to be honest - and if i am just unlucky then I guess I'll have to swallow it - its them I feel for really - it can't be nice can it? I will give the baked egg shells a go and then if that doesn;t work, I might try seaweed powder if I can find some.

As for too much calcium, I don't think there's too much danger of that unless it was massive amounts would it? Bodies only take the nutrients they need and get rid of the excess don't they?

Thanks for the advice though.

Bx

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that IS what the vets say... Dunno if "normal" hens might be a tad different, but out poor girls are so tired and all their calcium used... I agree , very tough on them, I also use a producy called Nutrabol as you can dose individual girls. It also has Vit C AND phosphrous that I was told was very important to calcium up take!

good luck

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Well that's 3 things to try then. And it effects both my girls so at least I don't have to try to feed them something individually.

 

As for feed - yes I've tried lots of different brands in the past and it didn't seem to make much difference - and with only two girls now, it takes a while to get through a sack! But I might re-visit that option again with my next bag of feed.

 

Has anyone had any success with a particular brand? And what about this 'poultry mix'? I haven't come across it before.

 

Has anyone tried that 'keep well' remedy? I keep seeign it advertised but its really expensive and i just didn't know if anyone's had any success with it?

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

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Bodies only take the nutrients they need and get rid of the excess don't they?

Bx

Not always, too much calcuim may well not be a good idea. I personally would use 1 supplement at a time. Apart from anything else you need to know which them respond to.

Re progress so far with my softie laying hen since I introduced Zolcal D in their drinking water & stopped layers pellets. Out of 4 hens, I have only 1 laying, her eggs are now lightly specked, I assume as a result of the extra calcuim. No more softies from the softie layer. It looks like she has started to moult though. I would like more eggs but am going to lay off putting them back onto layers pellets for a week or 2 just to give them a break. Of course they may not come back into lay when they go back on but we will wait and see.

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oh! didn't mean to use all the calcium sups at once! CM are yours also ex bats, the only reason I ask is that I was told to take mine "off lay" when IO got them by only feeding mixed corn, but the natural feeding thread points to that not being really corect plus I personally know someone that had 8 ex bats for over a year before I met her and she was told to feed them only mixed corn.. she had never heard of layers anything and she had eggs from to outset and they didn't ever really stop orr slow down till thety were getting older.

We don't know what may have happened even longer term as the fox got the lot a few weeks ago. I have never succeeded in stopping mine from laying. :( very sadly)

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Today I got them some limestone flour, some chicken spice and some cod liver oil. There are 8 of them in total so this is what I did today ... any comments as to whether it's right or wrong would be very much appreciated.

 

Two tablespoons of cod liver oil went into a plastic tub and I distributed it around the whole of the inside of the tub. I then added 8 handfuls of layers pellets and put the lid on and shook it to coat the pellets. I then added two tablespoons of the limestone flour and a half tablespoon of chicken spice and put the lid back on and shook it again to coat the pellets.

 

The Ezzies seemed to love it but is it going to be good for them :anxious:

 

Well Ezzie laid another perfect egg today :clap: .... one of the other girls has also been laying softees. Today hers had a shell but it was very thin and also white :eh:

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No Sandy, mine are hybrids but they have given me an egg a day all year even in the really awful weather. The feed that I am giving them has small layer type pellets in it plus some corn and squashed peas and things like that. I have some layers pellets pellets that they don't like in a different feeder today and noticed my softie layer eating some which suprised me as they really hate this brand and will only usually eat it if made into a mash, I suppose she is being led by her bodies requirement. :?

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Don't worry, I would never have used all the supplements at once - just one at a time with a break in between. I really don't think I have ever over done the remedies - I was just talking theoretcially. The most I've ever done at one time is a teaspoon of ground cuttlefish per day or one scoop of limestone flour per 2Kg of flour (I usually give this a go when I worm them - I like to give them a bit of a tonic week) etc.

 

I have baked some egg shells tonight - I was going to go for a shell per day between the two of them ground up - does that sound about right?

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Well, my serial softie layer has produced a good egg this morning despite that fact that she looks a bit like she is thinking of moulting :dance: I will continue with the poultry mix as their main food and have the pellets available should they want them, plus I keep the Zolcal D in water for a little longer(although the dog is drinking most of it :roll: ). The shell of the egg was slightly rougher that usual and paler which is almost certainly the Zolcal D as it has affected the shell of the other chickens that was laying throughout the same way. I am hoping that this feeding regime is reducing the number of eggs being laid and giving them a chance to rest between eggs . It may all be coincidence though and the change in food may not have made a s"Ooops, word censored!" of difference.

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That sounds good CM - at least some progress is being made.

 

I have a whole new problem to worry about today - both of mine have an upset stomach. They're feeling and looking very sorry for themselves - all hunched and dozey, have the runs and are very thirsty. I haven't fed them anything unusual (not started any of the other remedies yet) and they have been on flubenvet for worming this week but I can only think they have eaten something they shouldn't do whilst free-ranging? They weren't out yesterday but I did see them having a go at some bluebells on Monday - so I suspect it could be this.

 

I've removed all normal food from their coop and just left them with a sloppy mix of weetabix, water and probiotic yoghurt to see if that sorts them out - they're really not interested in eating though today - but fortunately, they're drinking plenty. I'll syringe some sloppy weetabix into them this evening if they still haven't eaten it.

 

I'm going to nip home and check on them at lunchtime - not sure what else to do though?

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I too have had a problem not only with softies from my five girls, but with decreasing numbers of eggs (after their winter rest). I realised the problems started a year ago when I began working at home and letting them out of their run to free range all day (rather than just an hour in the morning then the evening when I came home). So I decided to change their routine. They are now not allowed out of the run until 11:30am, when they have had time to have a good scoff at their layers pellets and drunk plenty of water. In three weeks I have gone from 1 egg every other day, to 2-3 eggs each day which has been a great result. The change of routine did it for us!

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Your change in feeding will almost certainly have done the trick. I think that I am a bit torn with our girls. I love having loads of eggs daily and also love to see them mooching around the garden all day free ranging - I hate shuttting them in. Hybrids are so good at laying reliably but I do worry that my girls are shortening their lives by being such great laying machines. I am happy to get fewer eggs in the hope that they will remain able to lay in good health for a longer time. I felt quite guilty collecting eggs all through the cold winter months, I wanted them to have a day off every now and again :lol:

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