How much liquid calcium supplement to fix soft shell issue?

[chickengeorgeto]

What is ACV and where does one get it? I'd love to give them the calcium in their water instead of their food so that I know my hens aren't picking out the calcium or avoiding. I have 2 hens that keep breaking their eggs and the other 4 in the same coop that make strong eggs.

I have been giving them crushed oyster shells, and lots of table scraps (left over meats too), they have layer crumbles that I sometimes mix with gamebird feed to try and vary their diet up a little. I cannot have them free ranging as neighbors complain


I have to Sexlinks, 2 Light Coronation Sussex and 2 Salmon Faverolles

ACV is Apple Cider Vinegar. ACV is also known as acidic acid and while ACV may have some good uses in maintaining chicken, (and human health) all acids react violently with bases like lime, calcium, oyster shell, marble, egg shells, and all other forms of limestone, including concrete. So use your intelligence and do as you prefer, after all the chickens belong to you.

 

[Jen01971]

Hello. I have trouble with a hen that continues to lay soft shelled eggs even after providing calcium. I am worried that she is not able to fully absorb it due to a lack of vitamin D. I want to provide supplemental lighting since I have them in a converted garage for the winter. What is the best light to use? Thanks.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Any light bright enough to barely read a newspaper by at roost height will work. Most of the year I use a compact fluorescent because they last and don't use much energy. In the dead of winter they don't work as well so I switch to a 40 watt incandescent.

Other than Vitamin D, a balance between phosphorus and calcium is necessary. That's why a balanced layer feed should be the primary food source. There are many interactions between vitamins, minerals, fats and amino acids that are tough to regulate by supplementing.
Layer feeds are formulated to provide the basic balance for layers in production. Not that they are optimal for breeding but a good starting point. Poultry feed is based on exhaustive research.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

What is ACV and where does one get it? I'd love to give them the calcium in their water instead of their food so that I know my hens aren't picking out the calcium or avoiding. I have 2 hens that keep breaking their eggs and the other 4 in the same coop that make strong eggs.

I have been giving them crushed oyster shells, and lots of table scraps (left over meats too), they have layer crumbles that I sometimes mix with gamebird feed to try and vary their diet up a little. I cannot have them free ranging as neighbors complain


I have to Sexlinks, 2 Light Coronation Sussex and 2 Salmon Faverolles

Hello. I have trouble with a hen that continues to lay soft shelled eggs even after providing calcium. I am worried that she is not able to fully absorb it due to a lack of vitamin D. I want to provide supplemental lighting since I have them in a converted garage for the winter. What is the best light to use? Thanks.

Besides vitamin D (much of which comes from exposure to natural sunlight) being necessary to absorb calcium(true of all living things), a good ratio of calcium/phosphorous of 2:1 is important too. Excessive calcium or insufficient phosphorous can also lead to soft eggs. So if one is still getting soft eggs when calcium intake seems to be sufficient(other birds eggs are ok). Excess calcium could actually be the culprit.

Here is a good article from a Canadian feed supplier on shell quality. Especially interesting is the section on soft eggs on pages 5 and 6.
http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

 

[Vannavaporlocke]

I have had soft egg issues too but only with my Australope girls. I feed organic layer crumble, the have oyster shell readily available and I feed back egg shell - even with all this the Australopes have issues. After consulting with my vet I also supplemented with Tums, as they are hi in calcium, still getting soft shell or very thin shelled. I am now going to attempt oral supplementation of injectable Calcium Gluconate. 1st dose 100mg/kg IM injection then orally at 25mg/kg daily. Not sure how readily available Ca. Gluconate is as I can get it through my vet. Might be worth a shot to talk to your vet for advice and a prescription. Fingers crossed this help.

 

[MichelleT]

Great thread - thanks. I, too, have a soft shell / shell-less layer. My girls went through a respiratory infection last month which I believe was IB. I know that IB can cause problems in the reproductive tract so I believe that this will pass as her body recovers. (None of the others, all showing symptoms, are laying weird.)

i have been giving her Calcium Gluconate on a treat each day and it helped a lot... until I backed off to see how she's doing and then she stars laying soft eggs again. Sometimes during the night from the roost! I can't back off, apparently, and so we're back on the daily calcium dose.

D3 = wondering if this might help too, since her eggs were never entirely normal - just better. Any ideas on dosing D3?

 

[lynnehd]

Great thread - thanks. I, too, have a soft shell / shell-less layer. My girls went through a respiratory infection last month which I believe was IB. I know that IB can cause problems in the reproductive tract so I believe that this will pass as her body recovers. (None of the others, all showing symptoms, are laying weird.)

i have been giving her Calcium Gluconate on a treat each day and it helped a lot... until I backed off to see how she's doing and then she stars laying soft eggs again. Sometimes during the night from the roost! I can't back off, apparently, and so we're back on the daily calcium dose.

D3 = wondering if this might help too, since her eggs were never entirely normal - just better. Any ideas on dosing D3?

@MichelleT , how is your chicken doing? Do you still have to give the calcium gluconate regularly?

 

[mimsy]

I've had one of my older girls that lays eggs without shells. I think hers is due to stress, weight and age. She is over 4 years old, a fatty and lays almost daily still. She's a bantam wynadotte, not sure if that means anything. She gets on and off prolapse issues in the last year. The ones without shells almost always happen when multiple things are happening-such as a prolapse issue and moved to a new coop, or prolapse and introduction of new chicks. Luckily with her since we give her epson salt baths whenever I start seeing any poopy issues or prolapse she hasn't had any infections, none of the other chickens have ever pecked at it and we seem to get her back together within a day or two. The eggs without shells usually get laid while in the bath or just c oming out of it.

I have a new girl however, who is laying thin shelled eggs. She was a stray that ended up staying at our neighbors house, who asked if we would take her. That hadn't been feeding her, just gave her water. So she had been only getting what she could scrouge herself. She appears to be a red sexlink, I'm going to guess about a year old. We've had her for about 3 months now. It took her forever to know what to do with layer pellets. She's now a complete food hog and got over weight fast. I swear she never stops eating. We treated her for worms, just in case as well before having her integrate with our others. I don't think she touches the oyster shell and she is constantly eating worms, which our yard has an abundance of. I'm guessing she is low in calcium. I'm glad someone else is trying tums. I was thinking about it myself, since that was what was suggested by our vet for both my 18 year old aussie when put on a restricted diet and then again on our starling when it was a baby. Yogurt wasn't a huge hit with her, though all my other girls were more than happy to eat it.

Does anyone know off hand what greens are high calcium? Our new girl loves any greens she can get and I'm sure she would eat those without issue. Kale maybe?

 

[lynnehd]

I've had one of my older girls that lays eggs without shells. I think hers is due to stress, weight and age. She is over 4 years old, a fatty and lays almost daily still. She's a bantam wynadotte, not sure if that means anything. She gets on and off prolapse issues in the last year. The ones without shells almost always happen when multiple things are happening-such as a prolapse issue and moved to a new coop, or prolapse and introduction of new chicks. Luckily with her since we give her epson salt baths whenever I start seeing any poopy issues or prolapse she hasn't had any infections, none of the other chickens have ever pecked at it and we seem to get her back together within a day or two. The eggs without shells usually get laid while in the bath or just c oming out of it.

I have a new girl however, who is laying thin shelled eggs. She was a stray that ended up staying at our neighbors house, who asked if we would take her. That hadn't been feeding her, just gave her water. So she had been only getting what she could scrouge herself. She appears to be a red sexlink, I'm going to guess about a year old. We've had her for about 3 months now. It took her forever to know what to do with layer pellets. She's now a complete food hog and got over weight fast. I swear she never stops eating. We treated her for worms, just in case as well before having her integrate with our others. I don't think she touches the oyster shell and she is constantly eating worms, which our yard has an abundance of. I'm guessing she is low in calcium. I'm glad someone else is trying tums. I was thinking about it myself, since that was what was suggested by our vet for both my 18 year old aussie when put on a restricted diet and then again on our starling when it was a baby. Yogurt wasn't a huge hit with her, though all my other girls were more than happy to eat it.

Does anyone know off hand what greens are high calcium? Our new girl loves any greens she can get and I'm sure she would eat those without issue. Kale maybe?

Yes. I have tortoises, so while newer to chickens, I've had to pay close attention to providing calcium rich greens w/o too many oxalates which bind calcium.
If a green or weed has a LOT of calcium, then the fact that they are also high in oxalates isn't as much of a worry.

The web site I listed is for tortoises, but if you scroll down to 'Nutritional Analysis of Foods Commonly Eaten by Captive Desert Tortoises', you can see greens/weeds listed that are higher in calcium.
This is still the best overall analysis that I have found; there may be others.
So focus on Beet greens, Dandelion, Chicory (my chickens LOVE this), Collards, Grape leaves (excellent source), Kale, Parsley, Turnip greens, to name the main ones.
Mix it up, variety is often the key.

(Don't necessarily look at the other advice, but the table is helpful)
http://www.tortoise.org/general/tntdiet.html

 

[mimsy]

Yes. I have tortoises, so while newer to chickens, I've had to pay close attention to providing calcium rich greens w/o too many oxalates which bind calcium.
If a green or weed has a LOT of calcium, then the fact that they are also high in oxalates isn't as much of a worry.

The web site I listed is for tortoises, but if you scroll down to 'Nutritional Analysis of Foods Commonly Eaten by Captive Desert Tortoises', you can see greens/weeds listed that are higher in calcium.
This is still the best overall analysis that I have found; there may be others.
So focus on Beet greens, Dandelion, Chicory (my chickens LOVE this), Collards, Grape leaves (excellent source), Kale, Parsley, Turnip greens, to name the main ones.
Mix it up, variety is often the key.

(Don't necessarily look at the other advice, but the table is helpful)
http://www.tortoise.org/general/tntdiet.html

Great list, thank you!