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

[Alex_LJZ]

So, still having a few problems and not sure what is going on. Hopefully someone can help me work it out.

 

I have 3 hens, named by my 4 year old...:

Red, a hybrid about 6 months old. se has been laying nice eggs for maybe a month. she lays every day, eggs are smallish but good shape and excellent, dark brown, great shells.

Pecky, Ex bat rescued 3 months ago. Lays maybe 5 per week. Eggs are large and very pale shelled but usually good quality, although usually they are oval not egg shaped, i.e. they have two round ends and no pointy end.

Cheeky, Ex Bat but quite small, lays maybe 5 per week. similar pale colour large eggs. shape is better Cheeky was very ill about 6 weeks ago struggling to breath and we put her on anti biotics following advice found here. She lost a lot of weight but is still with us. Vet didn't flag any particular decease and we have kept her with the other he's and no one else got ill, but she does still have a wheeze and the odd sneeze.

 

So, about 10 days ago (after a few days with lots of treats and snacks....sorry) pecky and cheeky both laid a shell less egg in very early morning (they usually lay around mid day).This was followed by a couple more days of soft or shell less eggs. This triggered me into putting them on Flubenvet and also on a pellet only diet. During that 7 days we continued to get soft or shells eggs from both ex batts but a good egg every day from red. They are now still on pellets most of the day with some pellets mixed with a handful of mixed corn mixed and some mineral boost with water to make a 'porridge' which they seem to like.

 

Then, red laid a good egg on monday am but then got very lethargic and unhappy. I put her in a crate in the garage and monday evening she laid 2 soft shelled eggs abut 2 hour apart. tuesday had a day of and today back to normal.

 

Today, we had a nice egg from red, plus a thin shelled egg and a miss formed egg from the other two.

[Alex_LJZ]

So, I have loads of questions and I think the answer is to give it some time especially following worming.... but.....

 

It could be diet - the problem started after lots of treats and then continued through the worming period where I don't think they ate very much, they really didn't like the medicated pellets.

 

It has been hot and could be weather.

 

It could be disease. Does the egg look like this is possible. I don't know that the odd egg came from the wheezy hen, but if so could it be illness even though the others show no signs. Could it be IB and the others have been immunised or do all battery hens get immunised?

 

It could be old age, the battery hens could be worn out?

 

Could it me lice or mites? I have dusted the coop regularly and also dusted directly to the birds yesterday?

 

Should I separate them for a bit and identify who is laying which egg.?

[lillybettybabs]

They will prefer and start to hold out for the nice treats which don't have the nutrition to lay nice hard eggs

like their layers pellets or mash has.

[anamiya]

Hello, you didn't mention what pellets they are on, just thought I would check that they are on layers pellets. You also did not mention whether you have provided oyster shell and grit for them.

 

I don't know much about posh girls but I know a lot about ex -bats as we have 15!!! When your ex batts arrive they are deemed at the 'end of their egg laying career'. In most instances you will get at least 12 months of eggs from them but the reason they are sent to slaughter at 18 months old is because the quality of their eggs will deteriorate. Therefore expect shell quality to be thinner and weaker and the shape to not be perfect.

 

Illness can affect egg quality. The hen that is sneezing needs to be watched carefully for signs of deterioration, chicken colds are rarely shaken off completely and she may need to go on antibiotics again. We learned this one the hard way as we thought we had a girl suffering from old age but actually she had a cold and I so wish we had noticed sooner.

 

Also the weather can effect egg shell quality.

 

Treats should only be fed in the afternoon and you need to be careful about how much to give them, they do not need a lot, think of their health more than your enjoyment of seeing the look of delight on their faces! Not too much corn on hot days as it makes them warmer. Spinach, broccoli and kale are good for protein and to help with circulation (i.e if comb and wattles are pale)

 

Hope this helps!

[Alex_LJZ]

I didn't know there was a difference between pellets and layers pellets, but fairly certain it is the latter. Yes they have access to oyster shell. I also crush egg shell and hide it in the porridge as well as leaving it out for them.

 

Interestingly, their wattles were quite pale and scabby when we got them. Some people report a big change but ours look a bit better but not much, still quite pale. The sneezey one was always the scrufiest and has grown loads of feathers in the mast 8 weeks and I think the other one is moulting a bit too so I guess that uses quite a bit of energy up.

 

Any idea why they may be getting bald tummies between the vent and rib cage? There is no evidence of feather pecking that I have noticed, I suspect they are doing it to themselves. One even has bald patches on its thigh.

[Beantree]

Mis-shapen egg shells is an occasional byproduct of the IB immunisation. All commercial hens will be immunised but only in a few will it result in the egg shell quality being affected.

 

Worms will affect egg quality as well. Do you know exactly how much feed they ate? Should have been about 1 Kg each over the 7 days.

 

Sunlight produces vitamin D and that is used to transfer the Calcium from the bones (where it is stored) to the eggshell. The Calcium doesn't go from food to eggshell directly. So it may be a while before their stores are replenished. You can try giving them a small amount of Cod Liver Oil, say 1mL each. Or some other kind of Vitamin D supplement.

 

I've heard of food dye gel being smeared around the vent to mark the eggs and identify the layer. I've never done that myself.

[Alex_LJZ]

I made up 4 kg of pellets with the correct dose of flub. I would guess they ate most of that after I picked it up off the floor. I may try a more direct method next time.

 

Does having a covered run affect sunlight related vit D uptake?? My run is covered with currugated plastic which probably blocks some UV spectrum??

[Beantree]

I can't answer the question about sunlight Alex. I don't know enough about the subject. What I can tell you is that we have had soft egg issues with Leghorns and improved it with extra sunlight. We moved the coop and run slightly. The light still went through a clear plastic rain cover though.

 

We found that ours didn't like dust coated pellets much either. I didn't like mixing the stuff because the first time was inside and I was ill. Eventually I mixed the Flubenvet with a little Olive Oil to get it to stick better and keep the dust down, because I'm sure a lot of the powder ends up in the dust at the bottom of the feeder. The pellets were better received. Then came Marriages layers with Flubenvet Premix and we switched to that which they loved. In your case you will get a lot of wastage though, because it only has a 3 month shelf life. Now we mix a 6g scoop of the stronger 2.5% Flubenvet powder (the small tubs are 1%) with 15 mL of Olive Oil and give them a well stirred dropper shot of 0.5mL each day. That treats 5 large fowl. The maths doesn't add up. 0.5 x 5 x 7days equals 17.5mL. But the powder itself adds volume and is sufficient for some wastage as well. You have to be so very careful to avoid them choking on it though and we give it after their morning feed. Although time consuming and a two person job it is much cheaper for us to do it that way and we are certain that all get a full dose.

[Alex_LJZ]

So still having problems. I have narrowed it down a bit though. Pecky is laying every other day a reasonable egg, still a bit thin but ok. Cheeky is laying a soft shell every day now, she has also stopped laying in the coop and uses the run floor as often as anywhere else. I am not sure what else I can do, they are only eating pellets, or pellet porridge and i am adding mineral boost. ACV in water and plenty of sun.