Has anyone been able to fix thin shell problems?

[BlindLemonChicken]

My suspicion in my case is that the hen that needs the calcium boost isnt actually eating the oyster shell

 

[-Shade-]

I started throwing one egg into the yard a day. It doesn't make them egg eaters and it is a good boost in calcium. If you don't want to do that, dry out old egg shells, grind them up, and throw them out in the run for the hens. It should help a lot.

 

[-Shade-]

Have you tried layer feed? I buy it when I am having soft shell problems even though I have oyster shell out. I will just switch it out or mix it into their higher protein stuff for a couple weeks and it usually helps

You have to be careful with the layer feed if you have roosters. Too much of it isn't good for them

 

[Jovian7]

Have you tried layer feed? I buy it when I am having soft shell problems even though I have oyster shell out. I will just switch it out or mix it into their higher protein stuff for a couple weeks and it usually helps

They have always had layer feed and are on high protein layer feed right now.

 

[Jovian7]

You have to be careful with the layer feed if you have roosters. Too much of it isn't good for them

No rooster.

 

[Jovian7]

I started throwing one egg into the yard a day. It doesn't make them egg eaters and it is a good boost in calcium. If you don't want to do that, dry out old egg shells, grind them up, and throw them out in the run for the hens. It should help a lot.

I have always fed them back their crushed shells as well as oyster shell always available.

 

[Jovian7]

My suspicion in my case is that the hen that needs the calcium boost isnt actually eating the oyster shell

I think that may be an issue with these hens also. Even though I feed back their egg shells to them and there is calcium in their layer feed, and this hasn’t been a problem with them in the 1 1/2 year they have been laying until recently.

It’s very distressing.

 

[McChooky]

I save all my egg shells to feed to my chickens.They love them. I only use the shells I cook & bake with (no boiled egg shells) After I've dried them I crush them with my hands & bake them in the oven in a shallow pan at low heat. Once they've cooled I place them in a quart size chick feeder to feed back to the hens. By the time its almost empty I have another bag of egg shells ready to go in the oven. I keep a container near the stove & once a week toss them in a bag to dry( kitchens best place to dry them)

 

[McChooky]

I think that may be an issue with these hens also. Even though I feed back their egg shells to them and there is calcium in their layer feed, and this hasn’t been a problem with them in the 1 1/2 year they have been laying until recently.

It’s very distressing.

They should have gone thru a molt around the time this problem started. As far as parasite goes some are harder to treat then others.Treating them once doesn't get rid of an infestation.Did your chickens have feather loss when you treated them?

 

[Jovian7]

They should have gone thru a molt around the time this problem started. As far as parasite goes some are harder to treat then others.Treating them once doesn't get rid of an infestation.Did your chickens have feather loss when you treated them?

Yes, some feather loss but not very much. I thought they molted in the fall rather than in the spring? I’m in Alaska so spring happened just last month.

I did retreat with drops of ivermectin pour-on about 3 days ago.