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[gazzagerkin]

one of our girls has now laid 2 thin shelled eggs which were cracked ,whats the best solution ? thanks in advance, gary

Edited May 15, 2010 by Guest

[Debby Tutton]

Shellstim !

 

I had a chook which never laid good strong eggs. If I got 2 a week I was lucky. I eventually added Shellstim (white bottle) to her water and it helped enormously.

 

Also ensure they have plenty of grit. I used crushed oyster shells which is pretty cheap.

 

Good luck, soft shells are not nice for us and must confuse the hell out of the chook.

[gazzagerkin]

this morning we had a soft egg!

[Egluntyne]

They don't make Shellstim anymore.

 

Is your hen getting a supply of calcium, ie Mixed Poultry Grit....the sort with the bits of sea shell in it?

 

Adding some limestone flour and codliver oil to the pellets can help, as can adding ZolcalD to the drinking water.

Some people do completely the opposite and give only layers pellets and flint grit, so that the balance between trace elements is not thrown out by adding too much calcium, and swear by it.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I use Calcivet for my girl who has started laying some thin shelled and soft shelled eggs. I just pour a little splosh onto something tasty (grape, piece of apple, piece of cucumber, cake crumbs etc) and feed to her. You mustn't give it more than 5 days out of 7. I find it works a treat.

[gazzagerkin]

this was laid this morning

have tried crushing oyster shell and sprinkling on damp corn

have bought some greens as i read somewhere that lack of vit d makes if harder for the chook to fix the calcium in

to the shell ,up until about 10 days ago we were giving them cauliflower leaves ,not had any since then could this be a cause? thanks for the replies will try the flour and water additives and castor if things dont improve

 

all very interesting

 

just a side thought ,can these be eaten?

 

[Lavenders_Blue]

Yes vitamin D is needed to help absorb the calcium. The supplements such as Calcivet and Zolcal D contain calcium and vit D in the correct proportions to help with shell production.

You can also use cod liver oil as a vit D supplement but I don't know how much you would need to give to get the balance right?

I don't know if you can eat the soft shelled eggs -I have never found one intact. I guess it would be okay if cooked through thoroughly.

[Chucky Mama]

Some people eat soft shelled eggs I don't as I don't feel that there is quite enough protection against bacteria. My dog on the other hand slurps them up

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I've caught a couple of softies and have used them (the last one in a cake mix I made up quite quickly ), though usually the only softies I find are in the poo tray ..............strangely enough they stay there

 

Sha x

[Gelbel]

I need to get some supplements as Madge is only producing very thin shelled eggs. She just spits out the oyster shell - the other girls nibble at it quite happily and I've not got any problems with their eggs at all.

 

Perhaps I can grind it up a bit more for her and sprinkle it over juicy treats.

 

So I am not landed with more than I need - how much is the dosage and how long will it take to 'kick in'? Once she starts to lay proper eggs will I be able to stop the supplement?

 

I eat her eggs - I make sure they are always the next to be used - so I ignore my own use in date order policy.

[gazzagerkin]

this morning our broody hen had cracked and eaten a hard shelled egg in the nesting box.she may have eaten a softy midweek as we did have a day without seeing one .i gather this is hard to cure once they have the taste?

[dottychicken]

Not meaning to hijack your thread gazza...

 

We've had our three chooks now for about a month and a half, two of them are laying regularly but one of the Gingernuts (Miss Scarlet) has mostly laid a load of shell-less and soft shelled eggs. The one proper egg she did lay had a fairly thin shell and ended up getting stuck, fortunately I managed to help her pass it!

 

There is definitely enough calcium in the organic layer pellets + mixed grit we give them, so I'm pretty sure that is not the problem. Otherwise she seems generally healthy, so it's a bit of a mystery!

 

Any ideas people?

[ElvisFan]

Our ginger nut, Nikki laid an egg this morning which looked to be to be just the yolk with a bit of leathery white membrain around it, it was in the poo tray but I was brave and scopped it up in case Mayday or Nikki decided to peck it and got the taste, Mayday's eggs are hard so I know its not what I am feeding them, is it a nutter trait ?

 

Its a same too as the yolk is my fave part so would be perfect for me to eat but I wasn't sure, it had a burial at sea down the loo !

[kevf1]

i use mash with some lime flour mixed in they seem to prefer the mash so usually 3 days a week they get lime flour added..

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Try adding some cod liver oil to their food to aid the absorption of the calcium, sometimes this is all that's needed in a young hen.

 

Sha x

[andyjanec]

Seems to be the day for it! Today Nessa laid her normal lovely egg, Pamela laid a soft shell - sticky yolk and white in the poo tray with a shrivelled papery shell laying next to it. And I assume Gwen (who has never laid belore), laid a shell less yolk in a white membrane also in the poo tray. They seem to know that they shouldn't lay them in the nest box.

 

Am going to assume these are both teething problems as Pamela and Gwen are still quite young.