How can I find my old pictures?

[Brianbj]

Although my hens have a constant supply of grit and oyster shell I'm still getting 20%thin or shell less eggs is anyone aware of any calcium supplement available that I can add to their water

[Bramble]

Hello!

This has cropped up in the Guinea Pigs thread so hopefully a mod will be along shortly to move it where it should go (not always easy to know where to put things to start with!!!)

I think most people on here would recommend limestone flour added to the food with a small amount of cod liver oil (good for the chucks anyway and helps the flour to stick to the pellets!!!)

It's very cheap to buy from horsey type places , but no doubt one of our more experienced oracles will be along shortly with more advice .... might be worth looking at worming your girls too if they haven't been done for a while?

[SueChick]

Ditto on the limestone flour. I use it if there ever is a soft egg problem - 1 teaspoon per 3/4 birds mixed into some tuna is how I do it but you could add it to the pellets as advised above. It clears up softies super quickly but then you must address what caused the softies in the first place - could be worms but usually in my case it's the ladies talking me into too many treats! They don't eat their pellets enough then. I have become much stricter now and they stay in the run until morning now to eat their pellets and then free range but still no treats until late afternoon! Poor hard done by chooks!

[Beantree]

The root of the problem may be lack of vitamin D, Brianbj. That is the transfer mechanism that moves Calcium from the stores in the bones and onto the egg. This can be due to lack of sunlight which allows vitamin D to be manufactured by the hen. But it may be due to an underlying problem, so you could try supplements. We use Cod Liver Oil.

 

I don't advise putting too much soluble Calcium into their diet. There is already 3% or more in their layers pellets, the actual amount depending on whether the pellets are a free ranging addition or for caged birds. Too much and you risk kidney and liver damage.

[Jenthelibrarian]

Another suggestion I took up from this forum, and which seems to have helped is egg-shells plus cod liver oil.

 

After some trial and error here's my method: I save up a few shells, and bake them in the oven with other cooking jobs, or pop them into the cooling oven once I'm done with baking. This makes them very brittle and easier to crush down.

I crush them very finely using a mortar & pestle, but a rolling pin is good.

 

We sieve out the powder from the end of bags of layers pellets and mix the finely crushed shell into this. I keep a special tupperware pot in the kitchen on the go, it also gets the crumbs from the bottom of cereal packs and any other dry stuff the hens might eat

 

I make up a dish of mash for chook suppers a couple of times a week, mixing my powder jar stuff with a little yoghurt and water and the contents of a cod liver oil capsule [pierce the gelatin shell and squeeze in]. I buy the very cheapest supermarket own-brand ones. I might also chuck in a pinch of poultry spice-type tonic, and any s"Ooops, word censored!"s like chopped apple cores, the inside bits of red peppers, you know the type of thing...Whatever's handy

 

My girlies wolf this down, and [touch wood!] no waste from expensive pellets and no more softies!

[Brianbj]

Thanks to all those that have replied to my calcium query your replies have been most helpful and with luck you've given me the solution to my problem

[nin-chicken]

I was referred to this thread as I'm currently having lots of softies from one of my girls. So I've now baked and ground up some egg shells which I will give them with food or yogurt plus cod liver oil. How much crushed egg shell mixture should I give? Do I just give one dose, or repeat for a few days? If this doesn't work I will try the limestone flour with tuna - almost sounds quite tasty!

Thanks in advance for advice x

[Redwing]

Agree with the cod liver oil

 

Too much calcium can cause more problems

[WitchHazel]

There is also a liquid calcium supplement sold by FlytesoFancy. It comes in a small bottle and you add a very tiny amount (measured in drops) to the water.

 

Maybe that will help?