hen won't eat oyster shells, eggs are thin and cracked

[annmarie]

I have a hen that has been laying eggs with hairline cracks in them. Yesterday I found her egg was in the box and it was actually cracked open, almost perfectly, all the way around. Her shells have always been on the thin side compared to the others. I'm very worried that she may become egg bound one of these days, and have an egg break inside her. I'm pretty sure she's having this problem because she doesn't seem to ever eat oyster shells. Does anyone else have hens that aren't interested in the oyster shells? Is there anything else I could give her that would provide good calcium?

 

[TXmom]

There are green veggis that are high in calcium, like broccoli...does she like that? Could you mix oyster shell into her food? Ummmm....what about yogurt...maybe she'll eat that.

 

[annmarie]

Thank you, yes, she loves yogurt and I haven't given them any in a while! I'm not sure if that's a good enough source or not, but at least it's something.

 

[rancher hicks]

Another is spinach. I recently rinse off spinach and mixed it with yogurt, put it on a plate and bingo all gone. They loved it. Do that once a day for a few days. I'm no expert but I know spinach has lots of calcium

 

[TXmom]

When I give mine yogurt, I mix stuff in it...like scratch, oats, sunflower seeds, some of their layer crumbles, etc....whatever I feel like putting in there at the moment. Maybe you could sneak some oyster shell in there too

 

[TexasVet]

Instead of oyster shell, trying feeding her some crushed egg shells. I crush mine into really small pieces and mix them with table scrabs. No need to boil or bake the shells beforehand.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com