Calcium lack

[Fast Chick]

I'm caring for a neighbors chickens while he's gone. their coop is terrible, unclean, with a tiny run and he feeds crappy.

sadly they are actually far better off than previous hens he's had.

He doesn't give them any calcium supplements at all. The egg shells are definitely way thinner than my girls, in fact I have to be far more careful carrying them back to the house. Mine I frequently just slip into my coat pockets. One hen has her two center toas either broken or deformed, I can't tell. Could this be from calcium depletion? If it is I'm going to take over a dispenser and several pounds of oyster shell at my own expense.

We agree to watch their animals knowing if we don't no one will. Thankfully they're down from goats, geese, cats, dogs, and chickens to just 3 hens and 2 barn cats. The first time we watched them my husband essentially rebuilt their crap coop to at least give them some shelter from the rain and to get them out of standing in ankle deep mud.

Another neighbor is a real goose nut and has prevented any of their geese from suffering long by arranging their regular disappearance. He has always left a handful of feathers behind to make it look like a predator got them.

If we can't keep them from having animals we'll do the best we can to make their lives better.

 

[MissPrissy]

Be very careful not to track illness or disease from his shabby coop back to your own. Nasty things can be transfered from his birds to your own on your clothes and shoes.

 

[Fast Chick]

I am VERY careful. Don't want lice or mites either. I think I'll treat his coop with DE tonight.

 

[paul65]

Quote:
Sounds like everyone could use a great neighbor like you keep up the good work.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

If you wanted to give them some calcium, you could actually just crush up some hard boiled eggs (shells and all) and put it in a little bowl for the chickens.

I doubt the broken toes were caused by a lack of calcium, but rather from unsafe coop conditions. The bird could have jumped from a perch wrong, been stepped on, or any number of things. I've had this happen at my house and sometimes there is little you can do to prevent it. My one chicken's foot was stepped on by a horse while free ranging, and another time a bird just got stuck in wire when it got scared. I've even had birds run between my legs when I am feeding, and sometimes I will step on their feet, even though I don't mean to at all!

You could try to splint the toes, but it will heal on it's own if there are no open wounds.

I hate to hear about cases like this, but they just seem to be everywhere. I wish more people were caring like you. I just don't understand how some people could care so little about a living animal.