Unsecure chicken perches

[Shelley]

I have one hen who seems incapable of delivering an egg with a shell. She's laying four or five a week with either very soft shells that are broken as soon as they're laid or no shells at all. I've tried supplements such as cod liver oil but all to no avail. It's been going on for a couple of months. Any advice out there?

[JanTheDiver]

I would try and boost her calcium intake if I were you. Make sure she has access to some oyster shell bits, they eat these like grit but it gives more calcium than grit.

 

I had one that was always laying softees and once I started her on the oyster shell she got better and we got proper eggs.

 

Hope this helps

 

Jan

[Shelley]

Thanks very much for that. There is a bowl of oyster shell in the run, but it remains untouched from one month to the next and I have added crushed egg shell to the feed, but still no change.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

You can give them limestone flour in their feed and there's also a liquid calcium supplement available which might help.