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

[Alex_LJZ]

Hi, I have a bit of a puzzle.

 

I have 2 ex bats (we have had them 3 months so I guess they are no more than 18 months old, and a 6 month old ISA brown. The young hen is laying pretty reliably. We typically get 2 eggs per day from the two ex bats, with the occasional day with only 1. 1 of them lays soft shelled egg or a shell-less egg a couple of times per week.

 

This morning they both laid a shell-less egg, which is strange. So I decided I should worm them and gave them a dusing of diatom. In doing so I note that they both have bald bellies from their vent round to the bottom of their rib cage. No red marks or pecks are evident and I haven't noticed any overly aggressive pecking recently.

 

Any ideas? Are the two linked or incidental?

 

They have had a pretty treat intensive few days. We bought a box of meal worm and they have had some most days, they have also has some fruit and table s"Ooops, word censored!"s over the weekend.....

[gavclojak]

I have been having quite a few softies at the moment from my ex commercial girls. I up'd the calcium by giving them some natural yogurt late afternoon and, touch wood that seems to be helping. They tend to peck their own belly feathers when they are broody, ex commercial girls do not tend to go broody often but it can happen, have you seen any signs of broodiness?

Have you also checked for mites, ticks or lice?

Edited June 23, 2014 by Guest

[Grandmashazzie]

Mine had this when we had red mite,particularly one girl who slept in nest box rather than roost.We cleaned coop and dusted everywhere and I covered bald tummy with sudocrem,this sorted it out,mind you we stripped out coop every week to clean every crevise for weeks.

[Alex_LJZ]

I have an eglu Go and wash it down with soap and water every week. This week I have also dusted the bottom tray with Diatom, and will give the birds a spray or two aswell. Will this work for lice and ticks too or should I check specifically? How can I check for lice and ticks?

 

I hevent noticed any broodiness, but they do take it in turns to sleep in the nest box. The ISA is the only one that doesn't. She sleeps in the doorway to the Go......

 

One of the ex batts laid a good egg yesterday with a good thick shell, so they can do it when they want to!