Shell/calcium issues- and now, shell-less eggs

[deacons]

Had another shell-less egg yesterday. I opened the coop first thing in the morning, and the BR was hesitant to come off the roost. I lifted her out and she was looking uncomfortable again- hunched up and relatively still, not eating breakfast at all (which is very unusual for her- she's always hungry!!). To anthropomorphize for a minute, she really looked like a person with abdominal cramps, all hunched over. I went out to check on her at lunch, and she was back to her rambunctious self, bouncing around with the others as usual. Sure enough, there was a shell-less egg in the nest. This is a little different from the last few times, when she's only laid them off the roost at night. I'm really not sure what to do for her, but I think I'll keep track of when it happens here so I can see if there are any patterns about when it happens. One thing to note, the day before yesterday, they got a lot more free-range time than usual because my husband and I were off from work and doing a lot of outdoor chores, which allowed the chickens to be outside since we were around to watch them. Could be that she ate a lot of bugs, plants, etc., but not as much of the layer pellet and that is throwing off the balance she needs to lay properly. Will be interesting to watch and see if these things are related.

 

[Juliebanning]

Try the tums for a week or two and see if it helps. This sounds exactly like my girl and the tums seemed to help. You may want to take her to your Dr because continuous soft eggs could be an infection

 

[deacons]

Thanks, Julie. I will give it a try- do you separate her from the others when giving her the Tums?

I am so thankful that I have a good avian vet around, so if this continues into next week, we'll schedule an appt.

 

[Mulberry]

Hi, just want to say she May need calcium, and a
few little stones ( gravel) or crush up dryer eggshells for very fine pieces almost powder
or you can even give her snail shells I always give them natural supplements instead of chemicals. For me the eggshell worked best! Good luck

 

[Juliebanning]

Thanks, Julie. I will give it a try- do you separate her from the others when giving her the Tums?

I am so thankful that I have a good avian vet around, so if this continues into next week, we'll schedule an appt.

I did at first just while I was giving it to make sure she got it she eats them fine without hiding it in anything now but at first I had to wrap the pieces in bread hope it helps

 

[Mulberry]

Hi, the problem definitely not the overeating outside. Maybe the problem that they always coopet up and not getting enough vitamins and calcium. Free rangeing would not hurt a chicken. However I went to my neighbour she is like 76 and lives on a nearby farm she told me it's maybe calcium if your chiken doesn't pick up oystershells try the powder version on it, one more think she said she put a little vinegar in the drinking water and that's should clear her out. Alternatively take her to your vet and they can work they magic.
Hope she will start laying eggs very soon.

 

[aart]

Hi, the problem definitely not the overeating outside. Maybe the problem that they always coopet up and not getting enough vitamins and calcium. Free rangeing would not hurt a chicken. However I went to my neighbour she is like 76 and lives on a nearby farm she told me it's maybe calcium if your chiken doesn't pick up oystershells try the powder version on it, one more think she said she put a little vinegar in the drinking water and that's should clear her out. Alternatively take her to your vet and they can work they magic.
Hope she will start laying eggs very soon.

I've read that vinegar can block calcium absorption.

 

[Mulberry]

I never new that, here in Europe we done this for years, I will have a good research about it today. Maybe learned something new.

 

[Toddrick]

Have you considered trying a different brand layer feed?

 

[deacons]

Have you considered trying a different brand layer feed?

No, I'm pretty happy with what I use right now. The widespread problems seem to have let up (I'm going to go with the explanation that they had experienced a stressful attempted hawk attack not long before). On the Barred Rock, I think it is an individual problem that I'll have to continue to monitor, but she's seemed ok since the last time I posted- though hasn't laid (which is perfectly fine with me).