tinkkletoes Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hi All. i have one poss 2 ladies. (rescued from a free range farm 2 1/2 years old approx lohan brown ) are laying very soft, broken shelled eggs nearly every day. this has been going for quite a while. ( 2 months approx) they have been wormed recently, there are many pots of mixed grit around run. they are fed haygate layers pellets. & there is ACV in all water feeders. there is no change in their general well-being. coop regularly dusted & checked for Red mite. 3 other girls of different breeds & older are laying normal eggs with no problems. i have tried putting calcium powder lightly mixed in with their end of day mixed corn treats but with no signs of change. Now stopped as worried about what it would do to the others. Does anybody have any ideas how to get their shells stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 try cod liver oil mixed in with the feed also cut out the mixed corn for now but give them dried meal worms instead both the cod and meal worms contain an amino acid that helps the body convert the calcium that is in the grit and should be in the feed to a calcium compound that the body can use go easy on the calcium additives (personally I'd leave it out for now ) if most of the other birds are laying good shelled eggs as to much calcium can be as bad as not enough also give them dandelion leaves a couple of times a week as they contain a source of calcium that the body can use easier than the one in the grit and additives. there's also life guard tonic that is good for young birds that are just coming into lay birds post moult and can help older birds as well but don't use everything together also check the sell by dates on the feed bags I had problems with a bag that had still got a month left on the SBD and I had more poor quality eggs than good ones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinkkletoes Posted June 12, 2016 Author Share Posted June 12, 2016 Cheers for ideas, they always get a handful of dried mealworms morning & evening. i'll try mixing the cod liver oil into the feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janepie33 Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Hi All.i have one poss 2 ladies. (rescued from a free range farm 2 1/2 years old approx lohan brown ) are laying very soft, broken shelled eggs nearly every day. I have exactly the same problem with my exbatts. Sadly nothing at all seems to have cured the issue. The eggs usually get broken because the chickens stand on them so if I get to them in time I am able to scoop up the egg before it breaks. Sometimes the shells are so soft that you can see the yolk through them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
