Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[kevf1]

ok,

 

one of my girls has been acting a bit strange recently but looked healthy and is eating and liveky enough.. but seemed to be very random with her laying...

 

i have noticed a once and OH has noticed what looks like a crushed eggs shell once in the coop and once strnagely in the coop... yesterday evening we noticed her acting strange and she start to sort of squat like she was trying to poo but had a bit of constipation... the other girls start looking at her vent when she did drop something it again looke d like a crushed egg .... they both tried to eat it and i managed to get it off them..

 

I have had a look in some books but can't find anything or see what could be the problem... has anyone seen this before is it a softie? it does just look like its not formed but you could see shell in their... and when she has laid recently i have noticed the shell is a bit thin...

 

any ideas?

[Egluntyne]

Sounds as if she is laying thin or soft shelled eggs, which make them very uncomfortable, and that the others are seizing on them as a tasty treat.

 

Might be worth giving her a calcium supplement till things are back to normal.

[kevf1]

i have changed the feed to mash and added crushed egg shells... anything else you would suggest??

[Egluntyne]

Any particular reason why you changed their feed?

 

The change 0f food and the soft eggs seem to have coincided, so if it continues, it might be worth changing back.

 

You can add limestone flour ( as sold for reptiles) and cod liver oil to the food, or a soluble calcium supplement such as ZolcalD to the drinking water for a short time.

 

You can also give them mixed poultry grit instead of plain grit.

[kevf1]

i only chnaged when the eggs started being funny... as i suspected it was a calcium deficincy and couldn't think of a way to feed crushed egg shells to her using pellets/corn mix i was using.

 

she seems to have perked up a bit now and although not an egg everyday they seem to be more normal on the shells. i have got the limestone flour and will try them with this for a few days see if everyhting returns to normal. i suspect she was breaking them as the shells were so thin .... before she laid properly..

 

thanks for advice