Chicken bald back

[auntielizzie]

Hi again, well since my excited post a couple of weeks ago when I had a lovely full house of eggs (4/4), things have been a little bit strange in that Bertha has been laying a soft egg at night ever since. When I go to shut the girls in for the night at 10/10.30 ish) she will have laid a soft egg; either I get there in time to remove it, or more often than not she is sitting on a squishy mess, or I find evidence of the egg having been eaten

 

It seems that her body clock has gone wrong, as well as she is laying soft eggs. She hasn't really grown her feathers back since her moult in winter How can I get her back on track Grateful for any advice.

 

I wormed them with flubenvet last month.

[Chickabee]

I have a hybrid who has been doing this for some time. I put it down to her age. She's still really healthy, but her comb has shrunk a bit. You could increase protein intake. I give mine orego stim in their water, and black sunflower seeds. I have read on this web site that's it's a good idea to give them some kind of tonic shortly after being wormed. This is also supposed to be good for feather re growth. Cut out any treats for a while

[Chickabee]

http://www.orego-stim.com/hobby-and-pet/avian-complete

 

I don't know how to make the link work, but above is the site that has all the info for orego stim

[sjp]

life guard tonic is one product for helping with soft eggs as is cod liver oil, meal worms and dandelion leaves as soft shelled eggs aren't always caused by the lack of calcium but the lack of an amino acid that helps convert calcium into a form of calcium that the body can absorb dandelion leaves contain a natural form of calcium that's easier to absorb cod liver oil and meal worms contain the amino acid the later contains more than the CLO

[Chickabee]

Is rocket similar to dandelion leaves. I'm rather good at growing dandelion leaves, but sometimes have left over rocket, which the girls like

[Chickabee]

Have just been out and fed my girls dandelion leaves and mealworms, to lots of delightful bok bok noises. Read about dandelion leaves on the internet. Seems everyone should be eating them. They are a "super" food. You can buy them dried. I wonder if this would be any good in the winter, when dandelions are scarce

[auntielizzie]

Thanks Chickabee; will think about the Oregostim but will defo try the dandelion leaves. They get mealworms most days and cod liver oil occasionally anyway, so they don't seem to be helping much then.

[auntielizzie]

Thanks sjp Not sure I've got many dandelions in my garden - will have to go foraging