Calcium deposits on eggs after mite treatment? Or stressed out hens?

[jrichter67]

I have a few hens that are laying eggs with calcium deposits that have recently been treated for mites. I have read several threads, blogs, articles and I keep seeing conflicting information around this. Either that it's too much calcium or not enough so honestly I am just very confused.

Here is just a bit of background on what has been going on in the flock recently too, because I don't know if part of this is due to stress.

1) rehomed half the flock and a rooster to create peace after bullying and feather pecking
2) realized that part of the missing feather issue was due to mites. All have been treated with poultry dust and the coop sprayed down with permethrin two weeks ago
3) they stopped consuming freely offered oyster grit, no clue why

Feed has not changed, Scratch and Peck 16% layer formula.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[DobieLover]

Did you do the follow up treatment with permethrin after the initial clean out? It has to be repeated in 7 to 10 days to kill the mites that hatch from the eggs that are not killed by permethrin.
Some hens just deposit a little extra calcium on the shell from time to time. As long as it's not an excessive amount and the hen is behaving normally, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[jrichter67]

Did you do the follow up treatment with permethrin after the initial clean out? It has to be repeated in 7 to 10 days to kill the mites that hatch from the eggs that are not killed by permethrin.
Some hens just deposit a little extra calcium on the shell from time to time. As long as it's not an excessive amount and the hen is behaving normally, I wouldn't worry about it.

All of the girls were treated with poultry dust twice, 7 days apart and I added an additional dust bathing box, fresh DE in both of the boxes. I didn't re-treat the coop though, I guess that would be my oops now that I read your response and think about it. I don't see any signs of mites on the girls anymore, it was obvious before.

They are behaving normally, it's just worrisome to me because I feel like it's a sign of something I should paying attention to. I felt so bad that I missed signs of mites earlier that I may be over conscious now.

 

[aart]

Did you determine which kinds of mites?
Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

Feed has not changed, Scratch and Peck 16% layer formula.

Crumble, pellets, or cracked grain formulation?
Pic of egg would help here.
Not likely it's something to worry about.

 

[jrichter67]

Did you determine which kinds of mites?
Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008


Crumble, pellets, or cracked grain formulation?
Pic of egg would help here.
Not likely it's something to worry about.

They were RPM, unfortunately. I have been battling them since February and I am finally feeling confident that I have them under control now. We had a lot of rain over the winter (equals muddy run) and I didn't have the dust bathing spots set up very well for that. All corrected at this point.

Their layer feed is a cracked grain formula, they have been on Scratch and Peck since birth, just changed from chick, to grower, to layer as they aged. The peach egg on top of the photo was so thin that just by holding those two eggs close, it cracked.

 

[aart]

They were RPM, unfortunately. I have been battling them since February and I am finally feeling confident that I have them under control now. We had a lot of rain over the winter (equals muddy run) and I didn't have the dust bathing spots set up very well for that. All corrected at this point.

Better soak the coop with permthrin, get all the cracks and crevices. 2-3 times 7-10 days in between. Maybe even give the birds a couple more treatments too.

Their layer feed is a cracked grain formula, they have been on Scratch and Peck since birth, just changed from chick, to grower, to layer as they aged. The peach egg on top of the photo was so thin that just by holding those two eggs close, it cracked.

Might want to ferment or at least soak the feed.
With cracked grain feeds the fines with all the vitamins/minerals/amino acids sift down to the bottom and don't get consumed.

 

[jrichter67]

Better soak the coop with permthrin, get all the cracks and crevices. 2-3 times 7-10 days in between. Maybe even give the birds a couple more treatments too.

I initially treated the coop with Seven dust, a couple of times (because it was rainy and cold mainly) then I sprayed everything in the coop and covered run with permethrin 2 weeks ago. I can do another spray this weekend though since the weather is nice and it takes a bit to dry after I spray.

Might want to ferment or at least soak the feed.
With cracked grain feeds the fines with all the vitamins/minerals/amino acids sift down to the bottom and don't get consumed.

I had been fermenting and stopped when we went on vacation and just never started again. I will definitely start again today! Should I also supplement with any calcium?

 

[aart]

Should I also supplement with any calcium?

Even folks who feed layer often keep a separate feeder with oyster shells available at all times.

 

[jrichter67]

Even folks who feed layer often keep a separate feeder with oyster shells available at all times.

They do have free access to oyster shell grit at all times, for some reason they have stopped eating it though in the past couple of weeks.