Eggshell Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Hi My bluebell has been laying soft-shelled eggs or eggs with such a thin shell it breaks when touched over the last couple of weeks. She has always layed thinner shells than the others and the white inside has tended to be thinner too, but she hasn't had a patch like this before. She's not 2 years old yet, and she seems perfectly healthy and lively otherwise. I've tried adding ground eggshell and a few drops of cod liver oil to their pellets, but it doesn't seem to be making much difference, and I'm wary of adding a lot more in case they overdose on calcium. The only explanation I can think of is that they've been getting to free range more recently - it hasn't affected my other two hens, but perhaps she's filling up on garden stuff and missing out on calcium? I'm wondering if bluebells are particulalry prone to shell problems; I've browsed the forums for advice on soft-shelled eggs, and there do seem to be a lot of bluebells being mentioned. Mine is completely dark - skin, comb, etc; could this affect Vitamin D intake? Thanks for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 it's more likely to be an amino acid deficiency which stops the body converting calcium compound from the shells or grit into a form of calcium that the body uses to make egg shell and the calcium that the body needs for it's self there's a couple of ways of dealing with this one is to give the bird dried meal worms the other is to use life guard tonic nether of these should cause problems with the other birds dandelion leave are a good source of natural calcium that is supposed to be easier for the body to use as it's supposed to be a slightly different calcium compound but as you say you don't want to be giving to much calcium to the other birds in the flock as that can lead to other problems and can result in softies to in some cases I've had two birds that laid poor quality or soft shelled eggs the first one needed life guard tonic once every 4 - 6 weeks for one day and that 'fixed' her for about a month but the LS I've got now lays eggs with poor quality shells thin or rough but not shelless but nothing seems to help so I just let her get on with life and the usable eggs I let the rest of the mob have as a treat or they get broken in the nest box and they have any way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eggshell Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Thanks, sjp - I'll try the mealworms. They normally have a scattering between them at the end of the day, but perhaps with the free-ranging I haven't been doing this as much. Do you know whether Lifeguard Tonic would be the same as Biolink's Poultry Tonic, which I already have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
