Unsecure chicken perches

[GGLGirls]

Hi...My little hen Garlic has been struggling for some time to lay a normal hard egg. Her eggs have been either soft/jelly like or brittle which break to touch. About a month ago I had to take Garlic to the vet as she was struggling to poop, where she had an 'internal' check, xray and was put on a course of baytril. A couple of days later I discovered some shell had been stuck inside her which she'd laid with her egg. Her poops got better but she continued to lay brittle eggs. After recommendation I put the girls on egg shell improver and seaweed tonic (5 days only). Garlics eggs have never improved, however I noticed that the other chickens eggs were covered in egg shell grains, assuming it was too much calcium I stopped the treatment of the egg shell improver.

Today I let the girls out and found another broken brittle shell hanging from Garlics rear end, and her vent not closing - so I am assuming she has some more shell stuck inside. I have another appt with the vet this afternoon.

Help - any ideas, what can I do to make my little chook better?

Note: Garlic is 2.5yrs old, has been master layer laying every day even through winter. She has never moulted (other 2 chooks went through bad moults over winter). Feel helpless.

[Dolly]

I'm no expert but we had something similar to your situation and gave Zolcal D calcium supplement in the water but it shouldn't be given often ie. 5 days max as you mentioned. This helped but only for a while and our hen returned to laying soft eggs and had many trips to the vet to have stuck egg shells removed from inside her. After a few weeks of doing this, I mentioned to the vet I'd read about a hormone implant on here (Suprelorin) which he had in stock and gave her there and then (not cheap though £50 ish and no guarantees as it's meant for dogs, but he had used it previously on a parrot). It stops egg production so gives the hen a bit of a break from laying - I was hoping it would last about 4-6 months from my research, but it only lasted 5 weeks! However, this did give her a break and she laid normal eggs for several months afterwards. I know this option isn't for everyone but hopefully your vet will be able to help her- let us know how you get on.

Good luck.

[Redwing]

If the others are laying normal eggs then its probably not a lack of calcium but its likely that Garlic is having trouble absorbing it

 

A little cod liver oil added to their feed (just a drop strirred in well) will help with absorbing calcium and more importantly wont affect the others at all

[GGLGirls]

Thanks Dolly. I have got Garlic booked into the vets this afternoon. Unfortunately my original vet left so am seeing someone new, but I will mention the hormone implant and let you know what they say.

 

Thanks Redwing, I have tried the cod liver oil in their feed for about 4 weeks prior to the other mentioned remedies, but again to no avail. The vet also said it was the absorption of calcium that was the issue and said that seaweed might help - I looked for a product but didnt see anything specific to chickens. Thought about herbal remedies from health food shops but its the dose that would need to be considered and how to administer. Any advice?

[westie mum]

Mine have a mineral powder that has probiotics and seaweed in it, it's by Nettex. It says it helps promote good egg quality and the seaweed helps with eggshell strength. I bought it from the Omlet shop.Seems to work for my girls as a couple of them lay eggs with very thin shell ,it might be worth a try for Garlic

[GGLGirls]

The vet gave Garlic an internal and indeed she had some egg inside her and a lot of poop. Poor poppet. I discussed the hormone implant with the vet, and the possibility of a forced moult, as Garlic has never had a break from laying. As anyone else heard or experienced a forced moult?

Will keep trying with the seaweed supplements, I have to contact the vet later in the week to decide on next course of action.

Many thanks to all.