Thin egg shells - when will it be resolved?

[gclarrot]

I have had free choice mannapro oyster shells for the last few months in a separate dish but I noticed my buff orphingtons will not really touch it. My Easter eggers and marans will.
I have just started the transition from all flock to dumor layer. I had 1 broken egg in the nesting box, and one on the roosting board and then yesterday two broken eggs on the roosting board.
They are not egg eating. Their shells are very thin. They have access to clean fresh water, and predator protected coop wrapped and lined with hardware cloth. They are healthy from visual inspection and physical i do weekly.


My question is - is there a better way to get more calcium into the ladies diet? A different brand of calcium supplement? When will I see a difference in shell strength? I am located in central Florida. There’s either tractor supply or a local feed store that carries only carries nutrena oyster shells which also resembles stones and not oyster shells.


*out of 12 pullets I give them less than 1/4 cup of scratch a day to get them back into the coop at night, no spinach. And no extra treats. They happily roam on 1 Acre a day with access to feed and water all day from 9am to 4:30/5pm. Maybe once a week we give them a bowl of scraps of like lettuce, carrots, and fruits the kids don’t eat.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you know for sure the Orps aren't eating the oyster shell:
Isolate them for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp per bird is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If they don't like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take them a minute to eat and after that they're free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results.

 

[abpatchy]

I have some hens that don't touch the oyster shells. When they have issues with thin or no shell eggs, I add liquid calcium in their waterer. That takes care of it.

 

[gclarrot]

If you know for sure the Orps aren't eating the oyster shell:
Isolate them for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp per bird is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If they don't like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take them a minute to eat and after that they're free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results.

I know for 100% it’s the orps since I walked in on her in the nesting box. They’re
Pretty time-able when I can catch them.

Thank you for the advice!

 

[gclarrot]

I have some hens that don't touch the oyster shells. When they have issues with thin or no shell eggs, I add liquid calcium in their waterer. That takes care of it.

Where do you find liquid calcium? How soon do you see the results?

 

[abpatchy]

you can find the liquid calcium for animals in all kind of online stores. I assume you can find it at tractor supply.
I saw results relatively quck. Just a couple of days or so. Now I am not sure what kind of calcium you have in the US as I am in Germany . But if they don't want the oyster shells as some of mine, the liquid works like a charm.

 

[aart]

I have some hens that don't touch the oyster shells. When they have issues with thin or no shell eggs, I add liquid calcium in their waterer. That takes care of it.

I saw results relatively quck. Just a couple of days or so.

Then do you go back to plain water?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Then do you go back to plain water?

That's what I wanna know... also, how to get the girls proper calcium when they don't eat the oyster shell and I have a rooster in the flock, without having to feed them separately permanently.

 

[aart]

how to get the girls proper calcium when they don't eat the oyster shell and I have a rooster in the flock, without having to feed them separately permanently.

I haven't had any problem with birds not eating OS....except when I kept a batch of pullets separated from flock until after they were laying(won't ever do that again-for many reasons).
I would sprinkle some OS out with their scratch, and sprinkle a bit on top of the feed, and sprinkle a bit of scratch on top of the OS. They caught on fairly quickly that this was something they wanted/needed to consume. Have had a couple birds consistently lay thin shells, but think it was more a faulty shell gland than not consuming the OS.

 

[abpatchy]

Then do you go back to plain water?

Yes, then just plain water. I just keep an eye on the egg shells. When I see they are getting thin again, they get another treatment. If it's just one hen and the rest is fine then I would separate her to give her her calcium water. Don't want to overdo it for the others. I had a couple of older hens in my breeding group who needed treatment more often. But it helped.