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

[Janepie33]

We have 3 ex batts that initially laid quite nice eggs, but now 2 of them constantly lay eggs with paper thin shells or no shells at all. I have tried increasing grit in their diet and restricting treats, but to no avail.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[mollyripkim]

I seem to remember a drop of cod liver oil in their food helps with the absorption of calcium. There are specialist products you can buy to add to their food.

[The Dogmother]

It could be due to their age and history, but a couple of areas that I always recommend looking at:

 

When did you last worm them with Flubenvet? If you haven't done it at all/recently, then worm them with Flubenvet and nowt else.

 

What do they eat? They need to have pellets as 98% of their diet; very little as treats and other stuff, and certainly no processed or human food.

 

I would address the options above first, and augment their diet with extra calcium; you can add some limestone flour or baked, ground eggshells to their pellets, and add a dribble of cod liver oil to help it bind, and to aid the assimilation of the calcium.

[Lewis]

You can add as much calcium as you like to their diet but you'll just have expensive poo if they don't have the right phosphorous ratio (3:1) in their diet.

 

They're older hens and ex-commercial so it's not unusual, they may also be coming up to the moult so that will help by giving them a break for a few weeks.

I'd make sure they're wormed and on a good quality layers pellet. Cut out the supplements and treats for a few weeks and you should see a difference.

[The Dogmother]

The wheat and corn element in their pellets should provide enough phosphorus, if you're in any doubt, just add a bit of bokashi bran to their feed, or treat them to some broccoli

[Janepie33]

Thanks everyone. We have had a little success with the additional oyster shell and reducing treats.

 

I realise the last time the girls were wormed was in March when we got them. I use the Marriages fee with Flubenvet which appears to work successfully. Maybe they are due another round of this -no harm in trying!