I am almost sure my soft shelled egg layer is an 18 month old BR. I have two BR and I am trying to figure out which one it is.
I am almost positive my 6 1/2 month old welsummers aren't laying yet. One is starting to get a red comb the other two aren't red, but are testing out the nest boxes. They have been sleeping in the nest boxes too, but in the last couple weeks they have moved to the roost with the big girls. This is all behavior I have seen before, just before they start to lay. It is just so late and getting darker earlier, so I wonder if they will just wait.
I am not supplementing light this year. I did last year and I hated to look out on really cold mornings and see the girls in the lite run and coop just standing around in a daze. I'll let them sleep in this year and see how that goes.
Back to the soft shell egg layer. If I can figure out for sure who it is, should I cull her? She has access to oyster shells and everyone else is laying just fine. I just culled 6 others for various reasons. I thought I got the soft shell layer, but boy was I bummed to find a soft shell egg two days after I culled the others.
I guess my question is, should I assume that there is something wrong with this hen if she is the only one laying soft shelled eggs?
If it's every egg she lays, yes, you should cull her before she culls herself. Sooner or later she will die from some reproductive malady, and it will be painful for her. That said, it's a good time to check for any other possible problems - and there will be a divergent set of opinions here, but you should still know what you are dealing with.
Check/treat for mites, worm them, make sure you're ready for winter. I have not wormed yet but plan to next weekend after my trip, after Bob showed me the most awful picture of an egg with a worm INSIDE it. Yesterday we treated all the birds for mites after discovering hordes of them on my little white cross-beaked Silkie pullet. She was on death's doorstep last night, and I won't be surprised if she has passed away overnight. She went down FAST - as might be expected from an already-compromised bird - but still very surprising how she went from seeming fine Saturday to huddled and miserable Sunday morning. I gave her some electrolytes and sugar, moistened mashed crumble, and then thought I saw something moving near my finger as I looked under her wings for some sort of infestation, and decided to bathe her and see if I could spot anything. Holy mackerel. Poor thing was teeming with the little bloodsuckers, I don't know how she got them so badly, but we immediately realized if she was that loaded, the other birds must have them as well. I dropped everything and went to Big R, came home with Permethrin powder and liquid - powder for bedding, liquid for spraying birds. I'll wager neither of us has any mites at this point, but we got them all sprayed down. Next time we will try dipping instead. We picked up the birds later on, and on those we were unable to see any mites, we saw the dead (yay!) bodies on their surface feathers - the RIR in particular we never spotted a single living mite, but sure saw the dead ones. I have no idea when or how mites got onto my birds, I have more to learn as I've never dealt with them before, but it is not an exaggeration to read they can kill your birds. Check under wings and around vents, especially if you see your bird scratching.
As far as chemical versus natural treatment, I had no access to wood ash and am about to leave for the week, so I didn't dare take the chance I wouldn't eradicate the bugs on the first shot, but several people have reported success with dust bathing their birds with wood ash. For worming, I've fed ground raw pumpkin seed periodically which is thought to be a natural wormer, and I don't have a specific reason to think my birds have worms, but I have this nagging feeling they could be more robust. Going into winter, it takes all their energy to stay warm some days and many nights, and they cannot afford to share what they consume with parasites. I bought some liquid Safeguard goat wormer, and a box of 1cc syringes, and all the large fowl will get 1/2 cc, Silkies 1/4 cc, and will repeat in 10 days. I might see nothing but some birds really sick of me coming at them with chemicals, which I hate doing, but still feel like it is necessary.
As I said, I expect divergent opinions on this - and in fact we have decided to plant a couple of beds with garlic when I get back, and next year use it to add to their food - it is supposed to be a natural antibiotic and immune system booster. I don't think it can hurt and may help. I can't afford to buy enough to feed it to them from the store, so I'll grow some. I am sure even the el cheapo powder would be better than nothing, and I'll start adding that to any treats they get for now, but I am sure fresh is better.
Off I go this afternoon to AZ - if I don't have a chance to drop in while I'm gone, I hope everyone has a fun and safe week, and enjoy your birds!
My most recent new layers didn't want to touch to oyster shells at first (for some reason), but they're all laying hard shells now.
