Found in PooBoard This Morning **GRAPHIC PICS**

[LittleBits]

I would worry about giving too much calcium on a regular basis as more than 3% can cause gout in poultry.

-Kathy

I think I will give the oyster shell a fair trial first. They've not had it a week yet. And try to find some in powder form, as mentioned by seminolewind. If the problem persists, I may do this - can you tell me how much for an adult hen and how often/how long?

 

[Eggcessive]

I use crushed egg shells plus I put out the crushed oyster shell in a container. They don't eat the big pieces of oyster shell. I think they know how much they need. That shell-less egg isn't any big deal really. It just happens sometimes, and I wouldn't worry about it. I have chickens of different ages, and occasionally I'll find one from an older girl.

 

[casportpony]

I give my normal sized hens 500mg every other day a few times. In addition to that, I also de-worm them with fenbendazole 10% (Safeguard or Panacur, liquid or paste) 50mg/kg by mouth and repeat in ten days.

-Kathy

 

[chooks4life]

Quote:
You're welcome LittleBits. Regarding seeing a hen lay an egg, it's best done if they're used to you and won't take fright about you being in the coop. Your hen is most likely laying soft shelled eggs due to wasting if she's as light as you say; if she was plumper you'd definitely be looking in Casportpony's very handy list of info. Which you will be anyway, she may be suffering an advanced case of one of those problems listed, and I hope you find what's wrong in time to fix it. Wasting is usually quite serious. If she's still on layer pellets I would take her off them; also if she's seeking the nest because she's too cold at night, (which we can assume she is) putting her on the perch will burn resources she doesn't have right now. I would put her in a box of hay somewhere, on the floor probably, in something like a cat carrier, as a roof will help her hold a good temperature at night.
Quote: My thanks also, Casportpony. I too will be looking through your info.

Quote: @Eggcessive: I agree with you but the problem here is that the soft-shelled/shell-less egg has happened a few times and the hen's underweight by the sounds of it which indicates something worse and longer running than a once-off bodgy egg. From my experience a skinny bird that takes to the nest is a pretty serious warning sign.

 

[LittleBits]

I use crushed egg shells plus I put out the crushed oyster shell in a container. They don't eat the big pieces of oyster shell. I think they know how much they need. That shell-less egg isn't any big deal really. It just happens sometimes, and I wouldn't worry about it. I have chickens of different ages, and occasionally I'll find one from an older girl.

I feed back their eggshells, too, after drying and crushing them good. Thanks for the reassurance! I'm still a new chicken mommy!

 

[LittleBits]

.@Eggcessive: I agree with you but the problem here is that the soft-shelled/shell-less egg has happened a few times and the hen's underweight by the sounds of it which indicates something worse and longer running than a once-off bodgy egg. From my experience a skinny bird that takes to the nest is a pretty serious warning sign.

So, do you think I should separate her and put her in somewhere to watch her? I have a small pet carrier, but we're not set up for anything else. Should she be allowed to go in the run during the day to get some exercise or just leave her in the carrier to see if she'll fatten up some? (and see if she lays any funny eggs there?) Or do you mean just put her in a box/carrier at night, rather than on the roost. Last night I left her in the nest and it was full of poop this morning. Normal-looking poo. Really, I just wanted to cuddle her! (But these hens came to us as adults and aren't that friendly.)

Like I said before, she seems to act normally, just at night, she goes to the nest instead of the roost.

Will a hen stress out if she's isolated and NOT lay eggs if I do this? Going to look at that previous post now that I have a little time...

I feed crumbles and just today mixed a little corn w/ it (just a little, though) and put the oyster shell in there, too. If I don't feed layer food, what do I give her?

I really appreciate all the help here!

 

[Eggcessive]

As i said before, I think it is not a big deal. If she is thin, put them all on 20% protein flock raiser with calcium/eggshells on the side. Don't isolate the poor girl--she is not contagious. Young hens have soft shelled eggs and some old ones do. By the way I have poop boards with PDZ just like you. I have 50 chickens using them each night, and there is a whole variety of droppings in there each morning. Unless I see worms or a bunch of blood (not tissue which can be normal) I don't worry about poo. Whatever they eat and how much they drink affects it--some is runny, some is not.

 

[chooks4life]

I don't think you should isolate her if she's not being bullied or trying to hide from the other chooks. Just somewhere warmer to sleep should help. I'd leave her free ranging because exercise and finding more natural foods is good for sick birds too. Is she just thin or is she worryingly underweight? The answer to that will guide a lot of other actions you would have to take to remedy the situation. I wouldn't stress, it's all a learning curve.

It is necessary to find out if she's still laying shell-less eggs before you treat her for it or make any major changes to the feed. If she's still laying and they're not improving I'd take her off the layer pellets. If they are improving then it may be fine to leave her on them, if you're still trying the calcium ideas other people suggested. Changing diet is a pretty big move and you should do some research until you're comfortable you're making the right choice. There are many different diets which can naturally supply the protein needs and it's a worthwhile task to figure out what will supply your bird's needs. There is also dietary intake analysis write-ups that will give you a good idea what they need.

Finding out why she's gone light the way she has is probably pretty important, as it could be something viral that could spread to the other birds or may have already spread to them too; also depending on what it is, what protein source you feed her may have to be specific; for instance if I didn't think it was something that would make animal fats difficult to the hen's liver, I'd give her raw milk, but if it were a liver-attacking problem (and most poultry ailments that are fatal involve the digestive system including the liver) then milk could be too fatty and therefore fatal. If she is still laying soft or nonshelled eggs, then it is probably wisest to assume she is under attack from something and treat as you would for a virus or infection. In my case that would always involve raw garlic minced or crushed freshly as that will kill a lot of nasty things including viruses and bacteria. I'd let her eat as much as she wanted, possibly mixing it in with grain or something else to get her to taste it to start with if she doesn't think it's food. Unpasteurized and unfiltered apple cider vinegar (preferably organic) with the 'mother' in it would be a good addition to their water.

I don't think you'd be able to get fresh raw cow's or goat's milk that's not been homogenized or pasteurized, but if you could that'd be a great source of protein, calcium and magnesium for her. I fed mine protein from a few sources that varied, like they'd get a bit of protein from each source, including copra meal, black sunflower seeds, millet, and other stuff. There was a diet someone posted here that was for coeliac's sufferers' chickens, which had the percentages of protein shown for each ingredient and natural ingredients chosen because of the human's state of health; the antibiotics used in poultry remain in their meat in quantities large enough that those of us who are sensitive to it are advised by doctors to only eat organic meats. Alfalfa pellets are good for protein, and if I have a hen who's good enough but sick I give her egg sometimes as it's a great and convenient protein source. Depending on what's wrong, plain yoghurt is also good, and so is nettle tea, but that's best grown at home. Sorry, I wish I knew what was wrong and therefore what the answer is, but first it would help to know if she's still laying those soft-shell eggs. All the best wishes.

 

[LittleBits]

Little Whitey (chicken that is underweight and probably laying the soft-shelled eggs) Update: Read post #474 under "What Did Your Chickens Do Today?" https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/773392/what-did-your-chickens-do-today/470

Things are always changing, aren't they? She's not laying at all now, of course, she's been too traumatized. No soft shells found past 2d, but then again, it may have been the other 2 that didn't make it.

Or, it could've been this one, but I don't really think so: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/792650/died-in-my-arms#post_11420455

I really appreciate all the good advice here about these eggs - we'll have to wait now and see what happens...

BTW, all we've caught in the neighbor's live trap are cats. The predator is probably sleeping off his meal. It's been reset several times now - since the night it happened.

 

[chooks4life]

If chooks go missing and there are no tell tale puffs of feathers, cats are a likely culprit. Dogs tend to make huge clouds of feathers, snakes also tend to leave a few (I've dealt with many, many pythons over the years, and some of the worst are the tiniest ones, because they tend to be more aggressive to you and tend to attack enormous birds they can't possibly swallow, usually biting out mouthfuls of feathers) and hawks etc seem to make a mess too. Can't speak for coons as we don't have them here, obviously, in fact 'coon' is a racial slur for indigenous people. Recently there was a lawsuit against a cheese making brand called 'Coon' even though it wasn't named as such with any racial overtones.

On pythons, people tell you snakes can't jump but that's not true. It's the ones around five feet and under that do it most but bigger ones can too. Depends how warm it is and how aggressive. I've been chased through the yard by a tiny very venomous baby taipan that was springing after me; every time I tried to catch it, it vanished under the very short drought stricken grass and I dug after it but it kept moving under the soft sandy soil and grass, always towards me, and I had bare feet so couldn't take the chance. Harassed me for about forty minutes, lol. It was only about eight inches long, max, but extremely aggressive; it didn't slither toward me, it jumped forward continuously without coiling. Also I've been chased and cornered by pythons averaging under five to seven feet in the chook coops; always more fun when you drop your torch and it goes off; the longer pythons tend to just try to avoid me and escape. They can be stretched out as they investigate some chooks, and leap a meter in the air without coiling to swap where their heads and tails are; some have jumped from perches at me or from the roof. Sometimes you only know there's a snake because you hear that reptilian thud of one bellyflopping the ground behind you. There are also long copper snakes, not sure what type but they're not taipans, but they are highly venomous, and they go through the yard frequently in summer, racing at everything that moves to bite it; chooks, dogs, cats, kids, people, whatever moves, they immediately chase and hunt down. Had one chook bitten but pretty soon we were hunting those snakes on sight even more aggressively than they hunted us, and yes we killed them; I know it's a no-no but when you have a yard full of little children and snakes chasing them every two or three days sometimes, something's got to be done and the official snake catchers would never get there in time.