Hi, looking for some advice.
I currently have two hens - a 4-year-old Warren called Dot and a 1 1/2-year-old Light Sussex called Lily.
Dot lays 1-2 eggs per week and they have quite thin, brittle shells, which I'd just put down to age. But recently Lily, who lays almost daily, has produced a couple of soft-shelled eggs that have broken in the coop.
Lily's back end also looks a little scraggly and slightly soiled.
They have a diet of layers' pellets supplemented by a few treats (fruit/veg/mealworms), and a pot of mixed grit and oyster shell is always available to them, but since I got Lily neither of them seems to take much of it (before, when I had Dot's two sisters, they used to get through loads, particularly the oyster shell).
I've tried mixing some extra oyster shell in with their pellets in the feeder, but I still don't think they're eating it. Is there anything else I can do to help them? TYA!
I currently have two hens - a 4-year-old Warren called Dot and a 1 1/2-year-old Light Sussex called Lily.
Dot lays 1-2 eggs per week and they have quite thin, brittle shells, which I'd just put down to age. But recently Lily, who lays almost daily, has produced a couple of soft-shelled eggs that have broken in the coop.
Lily's back end also looks a little scraggly and slightly soiled.
They have a diet of layers' pellets supplemented by a few treats (fruit/veg/mealworms), and a pot of mixed grit and oyster shell is always available to them, but since I got Lily neither of them seems to take much of it (before, when I had Dot's two sisters, they used to get through loads, particularly the oyster shell).
I've tried mixing some extra oyster shell in with their pellets in the feeder, but I still don't think they're eating it. Is there anything else I can do to help them? TYA!