Chronic soft egg

[Smileybans]

I have a hen who hasn’t laid a hard shelled egg, consistently, in probably a year. I didn’t know who it was until I brought her inside and she occasionally lays an egg that sounds like a chalk board. So my guess is this one egg she lays every two months is high in calcium. It even has calcium deposits on the pointy end of it. But the rest of the time she’s laying soft shelled eggs.

I’ve tried mixing egg shell, oyster shell and calcium citrate into her mash in the morning, afternoon and night and she picks at it. But if she sees the stuff in there she won’t eat a lot of it. I’ve tried giving her a calcium citrate tablet straight for a couple days. Still she lays a soft egg. She’s a silkie and lays every other day. Not even that consistently. She’s also a cross beak. This is her.

 

[ChickNanny13]

What are you feeding her? How old is she?
Have you tried "wetting" her feed & sprinkling OS dust on it?

I ferment my feed to a "oatmeal" mash ... I have a WTB that started laying soft shelled eggs after months of laying good eggs. I found the OS now days are a combination of Oyster Shells & sea shells or other stuff. Finally found the "original" crushed OS & that helped for a bit. It does get "dusty" which I now collect and sprinkle on their mash 2x a day; in the morning & when I refill their bowl.

It's solved her shell issue, she'll be a year at the end of this month & this started when I started using the oyster shell with a mix. Have learned that different forms of "calcium" gets absorbed into their system at different rates.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[Smileybans]

What are you feeding her? How old is she?
Have you tried "wetting" her feed & sprinkling OS dust on it?

I ferment my feed to a "oatmeal" mash ... I have a WTB that started laying soft shelled eggs after months of laying good eggs. I found the OS now days are a combination of Oyster Shells & sea shells or other stuff. Finally found the "original" crushed OS & that helped for a bit. It does get "dusty" which I now collect and sprinkle on their mash 2x a day; in the morning & when I refill their bowl.

It's solved her shell issue, she'll be a year at the end of this month & this started when I started using the oyster shell with a mix. Have learned that different forms of "calcium" gets absorbed into their system at different rates.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

She’s a year old. And I feed her fermented flock raiser crumbles. She also has access to dry crumbles. I have tried crushing up the OS and the egg shells into a fine powder but she still doesn’t eat the feed if it’s in there. I feed a roo with chronic wry neck at the same time as her and the only difference between the fermented feed is his has vitamin e and vitamin b12 in it. She’ll eat his over hers. If I put down just regular FF with nothing in it she’ll eat it.

 

[abpatchy]

She also needs vitamin D to be able to absorb the calcium as well as phosphorus. And just one dose of calcium will not do it. It probably has to do with her beak and the lack of feed due to the beak.
Like suggested wet down her feed to help her. Keep adding calcium, vitamin D (that's why your milk has Vit. D in it) and phosphorus to help her.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Try getting a pill crusher for the Calcium/Vit D tablets & mix it into the fermented feed (small portion) in the morning so she has only that to eat. I save the dust from he OS & just sprinkle on top of my girls morning feed & again when I refill in the afternoon, They gobble it up.

 

[MCW]

Try getting a pill crusher for the Calcium/Vit D tablets & mix it into the fermented feed (small portion) in the morning so she has only that to eat. I save the dust from he OS & just sprinkle on top of my girls morning feed & again when I refill in the afternoon, They gobble it up.

Any suggestion on the Calcium/Vit D tablets to use and the amount? I also have a silkie that is consistently laying soft eggs. I've tried oyster and eggshell and nothing's helping her.

 

[Smileybans]

Any suggestion on the Calcium/Vit D tablets to use and the amount? I also have a silkie that is consistently laying soft eggs. I've tried oyster and eggshell and nothing's helping her.

I know you weren’t asking me but this is what I have been using for my girl with my vets help.

The calci-lux goes into her wet layer mash three times a day. We just started her on the wet layer mash so I’m hoping that will make more of a difference. My vet said even with these two her calcium intake per day is too low. The vet wants her getting 3-4 grams of calcium per day and she was only getting maybe 1. Without these two supplements she didn’t lay an egg at all.

 

[MCW]

I know you weren’t asking me but this is what I have been using for my girl with my vets help. View attachment 3135157View attachment 3135158
The calci-lux goes into her wet layer mash three times a day. We just started her on the wet layer mash so I’m hoping that will make more of a difference. My vet said even with these two her calcium intake per day is too low. The vet wants her getting 3-4 grams of calcium per day and she was only getting maybe 1. Without these two supplements she didn’t lay an egg at all.

Thank you so much! I will give it a try!

 

[ChickNanny13]

Any suggestion on the Calcium/Vit D tablets to use and the amount? I also have a silkie that is consistently laying soft eggs. I've tried oyster and eggshell and nothing's helping her.

What kind of OS are your feeding? I've noticed nowadays it's a combination with coral and/or sea shells. I prefer and have had better results with 100% OS which has been difficult to find. I sift the shells prior to putting in their dish, collecting the "dust" and sprinkling on their feed. Unsure if that's what has helped but haven't had issues since.