beach chick Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 hi, I think my girls might be short of calcium, although it has taken a while to work this out. we've had far more than usual softies, far fewer proper eggs, and I've wormed, lice-sprayed, done a proper clean etc with no change. I've been a bit worried about Fairy, young white sussex for a bit. she's younger than the others, no face furniture to speak of, bottom of the pecking order, last to everything, bit of a loner, spends a lot of time sitting down. anyway today she literally fell off her feet, got up, limped a bit, and is now moving around fine. I've got her in the broody coop tucking into scrambled eggs and cat food (high protein, good for muscles and bones). she's moving around in there ok, and eating and drinking well. so putting two and two together, I'm going down the calcium route. a couple of questions for you omleteers please! 1. how long and how hot do you bake the eggshells for? 2. my feed supplier reckons they shouldnt need extra grit as they are freerange, is he right? I'm going to get some anyway. 3. limestone flour or liquid calcium? which is easier to get into them? many thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 I would only give 1 form of calcuim supplement. All day free rangers tend to get more grit from their foraging but also lets pellets or mash so it is a bit of a balancing act. You can give the baked eggshells, limestone flour and cod liver oil (together) or Zolcal D. Zolcal D gets added to water and so is very easy to give. Limestone Flour & Cod Liver goes in food. I bake eggshells and then pop in the magimix before adding to food, time of baking is a matter of putting them in the oven until someone asks why there are eggshells in the oven Mine free range all day and trying to add extra grit to their food is pointless as they pick it all out. When I get softies I make sure that they are getting enough mash or pellets by keeping them in a wee while longer in the morning and I add Zolcal. I stop it as soon as eggs are normal or I stop if I feel the specklely calcium deposits on the eggs laid by the non softie layers gets too obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted September 7, 2010 Author Share Posted September 7, 2010 thanks, that's very helpful. once my WIR is complete I will be able to keep them in for longer - at the moment I just have the and electric fence. off to farm shop tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 Mine used to really suffer if they had a lot of treats or kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 My choox get this problem a fair bit. Limestone flour is easy to hide in their feed, mine like a sort of mash made with their food and water and some cod liver oil mixed in . I also found that giving them extra greens to peck at (cabbage is the current favourite) seems to have made a huge difference to their recent softee laying spree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 PS, also meant to say you can nuke eggshells in the microwave if you're not using the oven anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted September 7, 2010 Author Share Posted September 7, 2010 I've just baked a load because I had them.... how do you do them in the microwave bramble? it's a good point about treats, I think I am over-generous with the kitchen leftovers, but I hate throwing the odd roastie or cooked veg away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tara Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 What are they meant to look like when they come out the oven always wanted to give it ago but not sure were to start ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 it's a good point about treats, I think I am over-generous with the kitchen leftovers, but I hate throwing the odd roastie or cooked veg away! When I had lots of softies in the early days they were directly related to s"Ooops, word censored!"s. When I stopped the s"Ooops, word censored!"s the softies stopped pretty much straight away. I now give small amounts of extras only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted September 7, 2010 Share Posted September 7, 2010 It could be that they are getting enough calcium just that they arent absorbing it Standard chicken food should contain enough calcium Cod liver oil added to the pellets will aid the hen to absorb the calcium in their feed Personally I'd try this before adding extra calcium to the diet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted September 7, 2010 Author Share Posted September 7, 2010 that's interesting Redwing. mine have always been on 'ordinary' layers pellets, which I have assumed have been adequate. do you get your cod liver oil from a health food shop, or is there a special version for chooks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bramble Posted September 8, 2010 Share Posted September 8, 2010 I've just baked a load because I had them.... how do you do them in the microwave bramble? I only tend to have one or two eggshells to nuke at a time, so I just put them in the microwave, I don't cover them or anything, just nuke them for a couple of minutes, then crush them with the rolling pin and hey presto it's sort of crunchy stuff for choox ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted September 8, 2010 Author Share Posted September 8, 2010 well today has been a turn-up for the books!! had 9 perfect eggs from 10 girls!! Fairy is still resting in the broody coop (altho not broody) but I think I will let her out tomorrow. got them some grit this morning, which they played with a bit - cant believe that grit in the run at about 10am would result in 9 eggs by 5pm-ish!! anyway, I will still check out cod liver oil and limestone flour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 9, 2010 Share Posted September 9, 2010 anyway, I will still check out cod liver oil and limestone flour. By all means have some in but I wouldn't use it unless you get persistent softies. Too much calcium can be as bad as not enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
