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

[angusrose]

Hi all,

I have a pair of Black Rocks - both gorgeous. When new they were both laying perfectly - one a day each. However, one of them (Edna) has begun to lay soft-shelled eggs and has been doing son for some time now. I have dosed her with worm medicine and plenty of mite sprays etc but to no avail. Her comb, although small, is a healthy red and her appetite is good. The only thing I have noticed is that she doesn't eat layers' pellets while the other one (Doris) does and produces perfectly shelled eggs every time. Doris is also the dominant one but I don't know if this is significant.

 

Does anyone have any advice for me to help Edna once again produce eggs with shells?

 

 

Thanks

 

Angus

[SueChick]

Hi. I have had some experience with soft shelled eggs and it's usually quite simple to sort out. You say she isn't eating the pellets? Why not do you think? Is she filling up on naughty but nice treats? Sometimes they can be like kids and don't eat the boring stuff but hold out for treats so reducing treats is a good start. After that I make sure they always have open access to grit in a food grub from omlet so it's clean and dry and available at all times. Another thing to try is to mash up some layers pellets with some hot water or milk and add some limestone flour for calcium - can buy thus online or at a a local horse feed supplier. I use one teaspoon for four birds so maybe half? A vet told me this when we had a serious calcium deficiency issue. If she is fussy about eating the layers mashed up, add a little tuna to make it tasty.

 

This should help but it may take about a week or so to work.

 

Good luck.

[Beantree]

Not eating the layers pellets is the root of the problem I think. Crack that and I would expect things to resolve themselves. I don't know what brand you are using but we had a similar problem with CWG stuff. We switched to Smallholder layers. Also we let ours free range first thing in the morning and they filled up with 'rubbish'. We kept them in until lunchtime so all they could eat was pellets.

[angusrose]

Thanks for the advice - I've ordered some limestone flour and will give it a shot with the mashed up pellets.

 

Angus

[Alex_LJZ]

Following lots of advice on similar problems I have started making pellet porrage a couple of times a day. two handfulls of pellets half of grain, spoonfull of mineral boost and possibly some vermex now and again. Hot water, mix and....... they demolish it........ but....... Still have one hen laying softies every day, even if I segragate her and make sure she eats it!!

 

Anyway, despite my problem, porage works really well for me.