Eggbound chicken with a couple soft eggs

[rosemarythyme]

If you choose to go with the calcium citrate pills, you'd give the entire pill as a dose, and the bird can swallow it whole.

Another alternative, if you're not sure she's eating the oyster shell/eggshells but you do know which bird is the "problem":

Isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her a minute to eat and after that she's free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then her problem is not calcium, but rather some glitch in her system, likely the shell gland.

 

[brm0700]

If you choose to go with the calcium citrate pills, you'd give the entire pill as a dose, and the bird can swallow it whole.

Another alternative, if you're not sure she's eating the oyster shell/eggshells but you do know which bird is the "problem":

Isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her a minute to eat and after that she's free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then her problem is not calcium, but rather some glitch in her system, likely the shell gland.

Thanks so much @rosemarythyme, very helpful to know about the calcium citrate and recommended amounts.

Fortunately she had a perfectly normal egg this morning. I’m hoping the mix of crushed oyster shell and wet feed that I gave her yesterday, along with having more access to egg shell pieces during the day, helped. She was definitely eating more of it than usual.

Going to monitor her and take your recommendations on amounts!