Broken Egg from Leghorn Almost Every Day

[jlwquilter]

Thanks! I’m reading the article now/as I get a few minutes.

All 4 leghorns laid a decent shelled egg! First time since I got them May 1st! Hurrah! The rest of the hens are now eagerly entering the boxes. The leghorns don’t allow anyone to be in any of the 4 nest boxes in this area (I have several Other areas with nest boxes but these are the preferred ones).

Ok! One day does not make a trend but it’s great that 4 good eggs from the leghorns finally happened! Now if my one EE that hasn’t laid in 3 days would pop one out I’d be in heaven - lol!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I see that you scatter the oyster shell on the ground. I put mine in a pan so they can free-feed it as needed or desired. I do the same with their grit. Is there a reason you don't supply it that way? It seems to me it's easier for them to get what they need this way, and it's also easy for me to see when I need to re-supply it for them. I've always done it this way, so I'm wondering if your way is better.

 

[Folly's place]

I have oyster shell in a feeder too.
Mary

 

[jlwquilter]

I don’t scatter it. The oyster shell on the ground is what is in the sand naturally. I have a feeder set up for the eggshells. The hens can choose to pick eggshell out of a feeder - which they do a lot as I have to top it off every few days - AND they can pick oyster shells up
out of the sand floor as they want, which I’m also sure they do. They also get all the grit they need/want from what’s in the sand floor as well.

 

[jlwquilter]

This shows the eggshell feeder. It was a third more yesterday. They eat out of it a lot.

 

[jlwquilter]

These are the leghorn eggs from today. The shells feel firm and not thin. I can gently but firmly squeeze them and they do not break. That was not the case with 2 of their eggs a few days ago and on a day when the soft egg happened as well.

One day of progress! I’ll take it! Lol!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I don’t scatter it. The oyster shell on the ground is what is in the sand naturally. I have a feeder set up for the eggshells. The hens can choose to pick eggshell out of a feeder - which they do a lot as I have to top it off every few days - AND they can pick oyster shells up
out of the sand floor as they want, which I’m also sure they do. They also get all the grit they need/want from what’s in the sand floor as well.

Oh I see! You must live on or near a beach! I have lived inland all my life, so this did not occur to me. Thanks for 'splainin'!

 

[jlwquilter]

Oh I see! You must live on or near a beach! I have lived inland all my life, so this did not occur to me. Thanks for 'splainin'!

Yes exactly! Lol! I live in SE Florida and I basically don’t have dirt. I have sand even though I am 10 miles in from the ocean. The only dirt I have is what I ‘make’ by letting mulch decompose. Or I could pay thousands of dollars to truck it in from the sugarcane farmlands. With their pesticides and such... no thanks. So I use what I have which is sand and mulch.

I’m glad the confusion is clearing up!

So the issue as far as I can tell is that the leghorns have plenty of calcium available to them. They are not eating it or if they are their bodies are not able to use it properly. I can’t solve the body use thing but I could try to ‘make’ them eat it if that’s the problem. But as I posted earlier I’m willing to hold off a bit more now as the feathering issues they have are almost resolved. Once that’s over they may lay just fine. I hope!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

And those are beautiful eggs, by the way! Still waiting for my Brown Leghorns to start gifting me with theirs.

 

[jlwquilter]

They really are nice extra large, more like jumbo, eggs. I’ve seen the yolks go from very pale to a nice robust yellow over the past 2 weeks too. Overall I think they are in much better condition than when I got them May 1.

Cruella came ‘this close’ to getting permanently removed from the flock due to her aggressive feather picking on Angel. But she laid the best eggs so I was extra motivated to try to save her. She spent one solid week in chicken jail. She was NOT happy. But when she came out on parol she kept out of trouble. My husband netted me shed backslide within a day (I secretly expected her too to) but she didn’t. Yea! And now, funny enough, she follows me around, has jumped up to perch on my arm, and is my nest buddy. I wonder if it’s because she became totally dependent on me while she was in jail. She KNEW I was her source of food and water and the rare treat. Anyway all I know is it worked and she’s great now and I get to keep a fabulous egg layer.

PS: the other 3 are skittish.