Feeding bones

[Kayla's Lunch]

Hi everyone. I have a hen that is a little over a year old. She recently has been having some troubles with laying eggs that have thin shells/no shells. They have oyster shell available in the coop and run. They free range about 2-5 hours a day. I feed them New Country Organics grower and I ferment it. I also feed barley fodder. Since her problem started, I also give them layer pellets. But, she still is having a problem with her shells. I have powdered calcium carbonate. When I am able to get her to eat it, it helps. She is a very picky eater and it has been difficult. Today I tried little pieces of raw chicken wing tips. They were cut up into little pieces and she loved them. I don't like the idea of feeding chicken to my chicken, but I don't want her laying shell-less eggs. Anyone have any idea how much wing bone I should feed her? I was thinking I would feed a little every 2-3 days, but don't know how much. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi everyone. I have a hen that is a little over a year old. She recently has been having some troubles with laying eggs that have thin shells/no shells. They have oyster shell available in the coop and run. They free range about 2-5 hours a day. I feed them New Country Organics grower and I ferment it. I also feed barley fodder. Since her problem started, I also give them layer pellets. But, she still is having a problem with her shells. I have powdered calcium carbonate. When I am able to get her to eat it, it helps. She is a very picky eater and it has been difficult. Today I tried little pieces of raw chicken wing tips. They were cut up into little pieces and she loved them. I don't like the idea of feeding chicken to my chicken, but I don't want her laying shell-less eggs. Anyone have any idea how much wing bone I should feed her? I was thinking I would feed a little every 2-3 days, but don't know how much. Thanks for any suggestions!

Chickens can eat bones without a problem. They eat small birds, mice, frogs, snakes, anything they can get their little beaks on.
Give it a try.
You may also want to toss some oyster shell out with seeds or scratch if you feed that to encourage her to eat the OS.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have a hen that is a little over a year old. She recently has been having some troubles with laying eggs that have thin shells/no shells.

That's challenging. I assume her egg shells were fine until recently. How long is recently and how consistent is it? Are your other hen's egg shells OK? When I have an issue I try to determine if it is an individual issue or a flock-wide issue. I don't want to mess up the rest of the flock by treating them when nothing is wrong with them.

How long has she been laying without stop. Sometimes egg quality can deteriorate late in a hen's laying cycle. That's one reason they need to molt and recharge their system. Each hen is an individual and some are affected by this more than others. Usually it takes 13 months or more for this to start showing up but you never know.

Some hen's bodies don't absorb certain nutrients the way they should. They just don't process them right, no matter how much they eat. Often it is genetic. If her egg shells used to be fine this is probably not it. Then there is Vitamin D.

Most hens know by instinct that they need extra calcium for egg shells and will eat enough oyster shell or other calcium supplements if they need them. But not all of them have the right instincts.

Is it every egg she lays? Hens typically only make a certain amount of shell material per day. It is possible for a hen to release more than one yolk per day to start the internal egg making process. When that happens there may not be enough shell material to go around so the later eggs especially can be thin-shelled or even soft-shelled. Double yolked eggs can sometimes be thin.

I'll mention this one but I don't think it is what is happening to you. When a pullet starts laying the eggs are pretty small. If she is making enough egg shell material those shells can be pretty thick. As the eggs get larger the shell material has more egg to cover so the shells get thinner. I find it highly unlikely the eggs have increased that much in size lately.

Are they getting a period of dark time? They need enough dark to rest and regroup at night. That can lead to egg quality problems but usually not something like this.

This is what the Egg Quality Handbook has to say about it. This is more for commercial egg production but some of it carries over to our backyard flocks.

https://thepoultrysite.com/publications/egg-quality-handbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

I'm having problems coming up with things I think it could really be as I understand that this is a recent change. Maybe you can see something in all this that gives you a clue.

 

[chickens really]

Bones need to be uncooked in order to be safe or they splinter and cause damage..

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

I am a very free person about feeding my chickens things, but I would not feed them bones. Bones will not digest and can cause internal damage.. unless you meant bone meal.. Try crushing up their egg shells. My chickens do not prefer Oyster Shell, but get their calcium from crushed shells.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Calcium isn't alone; vitamin D3 and phosphorus are also very important in shell formation. I'd try supplementing those.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

You may also want to toss some oyster shell out with seeds or scratch if you feed that to encourage her to eat the OS.

Thanks for the idea. I will try spreading some on the ground.

 

[Kayla's Lunch]

Calcium isn't alone; vitamin D3 and phosphorus are also very important in shell formation. I'd try supplementing those.

Thanks for the info. Isn't phosphorus in meat? So, I could add some meat to her little bits of bone? How would I supplement Vit D and how much.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

You could give them meat for extra protein and the phosphorous. I give my birds some especially when they are molting.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks for the info but I'm still mystified. She was fine until she molted and has consistently had his issue since the molt. If you can get extra calcium down her the egg shells improve but she resists eating extra calcium. The other hens are OK. It sounds like she is not processing or eating enough calcium now but used to. I don't know why that changed.

The small bones will get ground up in her gizzard and be processed by her body. She will get some calcium out of them. Even when they eat oyster shell, egg shells, or other calcium sources not all the calcium is absorbed by a hen's body. A fair amount passes on through and out her rear end. Compost made with chicken manure is generally high in calcium, a good thing for gardens. I don't know how a chicken's body processes ground up bone compared to ground up oyster shell, I'd think pretty well.

Chicken Layer feed has about 4% calcium. If all they eat is Layer that should provide enough calcium for egg shells. So about 4% of what she eats should be calcium. I'm not sure you will feed her enough bones to get that, but she will get some calcium from other things she eats. It's not how much calcium is in one bite, it's how many total grams of calcium she eats in a day from all sources. So the bones should help.

Have you considered trying feeding her bone meal? I don't know if she will eat it or not. Like any "treat" I would not overdo it, but a little may help.

It may have something to do with Vitamin D. They get vitamin D from being outside in the sun or maybe from what they eat. The more vitamin D they have the more calcium they use from what they eat. Another way to say that is the more vitamin D they have the less calcium they need to eat or the less vitamin D they have the more calcium they need to eat. This is a bit of a slippery slope as these need to be in balance. Too much of both can lead to super-absorption of calcium which can lead to liver damage. There is a pretty wide window of what works but you might try feeding her extra vitamin D. I'm not sure of a good source for that.

When I have an issue I try to solve it for the benefit of the entire flock, not one individual. Since this individual appears to have special dietary needs I'd be reluctant to expose the rest of the flock to excess nutrients to benefit her. If you are willing to put in the effort you can try to find a solution to her issue but I'd be careful with the rest of the flock. I have been called ruthless because of the way I manage my flock as i have removed individuals that just did not fit in for behaviors or issues like this. Beyond a certain point, the effort isn't worth it to me. It may be to you.