Chicken lays soft shell eggs and they eat it together

[BigBlueHen53]

Do this experiment: put a fresh good egg with a hard shell in a glass of vinegar and watch what happpens to it overnight. Feel it with your finger.

Whatever benefits ACV may or may not provide to the overall health of a chicken, the bottom line is that it leaches the calcium out bones and egg shells. So if your hen is giving you soft shelled eggs and you are giving her vinegar in any form for any reason, stop it immediately.

Also if you are not currently providing her with oyster shell in a separate dish available 24/7, please begin to do so immediately. Grit is necessary for digestion, but it does not provide calcium which is necessary for the formation of good hard shells.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

 

[jBabychickn]

Well I’m just baffled, if it’s a myth, why is it promoted on so many articles. Including on this site: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...atural-ways-to-keep-your-flock-healthy.67126/

I don’t care either way - I’m just surprised! I’m no expert but I try to apply the best advice I find, and I’ve always heard about the wonders of vinegar. I feel terrible that it could be bad advice I’ve been applying all these years. If it’s bad advice it needs to come down.

@Yevesman
I’m surprised at this as well…

As a new Chicken-owner; I’ve read this exact article and started giving ACV in their water because I thought it was good husbandry to do so.

I’ve injured my neck over the Holidays. I’m unable to lift anything over 10lbs right now, so my Husband has been doing all the chicken feeding and watering. I’ve been having him just do plain water, to make things easier for him/less to do.
— Now, I’m glad I have. They’ve been getting plain water now for 2mos and they’ve come into Lay, starting early January. Their eggs so far have been great.

Long story short —
- This article is “Very Deceiving”, if ACV is indeed bad for egg laying…
- Example: A quote taken from the mentioned BYC Article… “It(AVC) boosts a chicken's respiratory, immune and digestive systems and helps with calcium absorption”

 

[jBabychickn]

That's how myths are propagated.

Exactly. — I think in this case, BYC should update their article to reflect the correct information.

 

[Yevesman]

Do this experiment: put a fresh good egg with a hard shell in a glass of vinegar and watch what happpens to it overnight. Feel it with your finger.

Whatever benefits ACV may or may not provide to the overall health of a chicken, the bottom line is that it leaches the calcium out bones and egg shells. So if your hen is giving you soft shelled eggs and you are giving her vinegar in any form for any reason, stop it immediately.

Also if you are not currently providing her with oyster shell in a separate dish available 24/7, please begin to do so immediately. Grit is necessary for digestion, but it does not provide calcium which is necessary for the formation of good hard shells.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

This is .. not really helpful. I could tell you to take a bath in toothpaste or paracetamol and see what happens - eg im sure it would have ill effects, but it proves nothing because you just went way above recommend doses and even applied the dose differently eg directly to the egg instead of the digestive system of the bird.

The question was really about - are there any, recommended eg beneficial doses of ACV. If so what is the dosage. And secondly if there are no levels at which acv is beneficial, then how do we go about cleaning up all those ridiculous posts and articles about it.

I would love more evidence but the one study I linked to suggested there is only minor benefits and only when acv is highly diluted in water and served very occasionally. An alternative conclusion to that treatment can be that it’s not even worth the hassle, basically.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

This is .. not really helpful. I could tell you to take a bath in toothpaste or paracetamol and see what happens - eg im sure it would have ill effects, but it proves nothing because you just went way above recommend doses and even applied the dose differently eg directly to the egg instead of the digestive system of the bird.

The question was really about - are there any, recommended eg beneficial doses of ACV. If so what is the dosage. And secondly if there are no levels at which acv is beneficial, then how do we go about cleaning up all those ridiculous posts and articles about it.

I would love more evidence but the one study I linked to suggested there is only minor benefits and only when acv is highly diluted in water and served very occasionally. An alternative conclusion to that treatment can be that it’s not even worth the hassle, basically.

You make a valid point. When I did the vinegar-egg exprriment and saw how vinegar weakens egg shells, and, presumably, bones, by leaching or destroying calcium, I determined not to ingest it myself in spite of the wildly enthusiastic claims that came on curculars in the mail touting the near-miraculous health benefits of ACV. And of course, if I'm not going to use it myself, I'm certainly not going to give it to any of my animals, including my chickens. I guess everyone has to come to their own conclusions. Incidentally I don't get soft-shelled or shell-less eggs.