I have an 18 month old RIR who has previously been a fantastic layer. Large hard shelled brown eggs, some double yolks.
Last August, she had bumblefoot, and I did "home surgery". 2 months later, it came back and we did home surgery again. It appears to have cleared up ( surgery was awful
!!!)
Lately - last month or so, I've been finding an occasional thin shelled broken egg in on the poop board. About 4-5 so far. They break upon impact, falling about 6-8 inches into poop/sweet pdz that are under their roost.
The shells are very light/pale pinkish brown and appear to be torn upon impact.
I do not supplement extra light in the winter so the girls get a natural break from laying. I get an occasional large pinkish brown egg from my other 18 month old RIR, and an even rarer egg from my 4 year old Speckled Sussex.
I just have the 3 hens. They have otherwise been very healthy. They eat Purina Layena crumbles and free range about 3-4 hours a day supervised. They have grit and oyster shell available, and lately I've increased their calcium with plain yogurt and cottage cheese as a treat.
All poop looks normal - big greenish-grey lump. No worms. Molted last fall.
Read this thread...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-problem-thin-shells-or-no-shells-how-to-fix
Any suggestions on what the problem might be? I appreciate any advice!
Cecily
Last August, she had bumblefoot, and I did "home surgery". 2 months later, it came back and we did home surgery again. It appears to have cleared up ( surgery was awful
Lately - last month or so, I've been finding an occasional thin shelled broken egg in on the poop board. About 4-5 so far. They break upon impact, falling about 6-8 inches into poop/sweet pdz that are under their roost.
The shells are very light/pale pinkish brown and appear to be torn upon impact.
I do not supplement extra light in the winter so the girls get a natural break from laying. I get an occasional large pinkish brown egg from my other 18 month old RIR, and an even rarer egg from my 4 year old Speckled Sussex.
I just have the 3 hens. They have otherwise been very healthy. They eat Purina Layena crumbles and free range about 3-4 hours a day supervised. They have grit and oyster shell available, and lately I've increased their calcium with plain yogurt and cottage cheese as a treat.
All poop looks normal - big greenish-grey lump. No worms. Molted last fall.
Read this thread...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-problem-thin-shells-or-no-shells-how-to-fix
Any suggestions on what the problem might be? I appreciate any advice!
Cecily
