Help hen with pasty butt?!

[Pebbles25]

Have you had problems in the past with the rats and crows being attracted to the oyster shells? So your hens are getting no supplemental calcium right now? I would not think they rat/crows would be attracted to the oyster shells, but I could be wrong.

How many chickens do you have? I have 19 layers and I don't go through too much of it in. I use flaked oyster shells and a small box (5 pounds) last me about 2 months. I never find any undersireable pests eating my oyster shells. My crew free ranges so there is ample opportunity for pests to get near the oyster shells. I have never seen that at all.

Hens do need to be able to get calcium free choice in order to keep their reproduction system in good health. Rooting for you to find a way to make that happen.

Also, oyster shell and grit are two different things. Oyster shell and grit are not interchangable. Grit will not provide needed calcium and oyster shell is not hard enough to be substituted for grit. That they have sand is better than nothing, but they do need hard grit. Grit is usually made up of crushed granite. If your sand is made up of granite (or flint) then you are probably okay. Grit is used to help the gizzard grind food. Oyster shells provide calcium for the production of eggshells. Not having calcium will lead to soft shelled eggs. Even hens on layer feed need supplemental calcium.

I don't give grit b/c my crew free ranges and can find all the smal rocks they want. But I do give oyster shells for calcium.

We have rat holes everywhere, but mainly it was the crows. We had a crow land in our garden and take an egg shell. It came back looking for more, so we have had to hide everything that looks like food. The big problem with crows is they will go get their buddies and then mob a chicken until it dies and it’s very common where we are. I just give them egg shells or oyster shell stuff every couple of days. Our egg shells aren’t weak. We also have shells at the around our garden that do get bashed up. We also have a gravel driveway, which is where I presume they get their grit. I don’t really worry about that as they free range and there’s plenty of gravel around which is granite. Thank you!

 

[Pebbles25]

Possible it could be genetic, but if she's not getting adequate calcium, then this could also be a contributor.


I'm not sure if Rats would eat oyster shell, that's not something I've seen them do. Rats do love chicken feed though (I've seen that!).

You are in the UK, so ask the shop where you buy your poultry feed if they have
Soluble Grit. Soluble Grit is usually either Limestone or Oyster Shell, either one of those is fine. This would be your supplemental Calcium source that you put out free choice for the birds to consume. I usually put a small amount in a small dish inside the coop or run or you could attach a small dish/container to a post, etc.

If they tell you they have Insoluble Grit, that would usually be Flint or Granite, this is very hard pieces of rock that are stored int he Gizzard to help with the grinding of foods. If you have suitable soil and pebbles on your property, then you may not need Insoluble Grit, but for me, I like to provide it for my birds, this way I don't worry about what's suitable or not.

Hopefully the Rennies will help get her regulated a little or at least firm up the shells, but when you can, I'd definitely get some Soluble Grit.

I may have been misnaming the oyster shell stuff. It says it’s for strong egg shells etc. Our oyster shell is quite expensive so we mainly give them egg shells. None of our other birds have a problem. There are plenty of shells hanging about. Thank you!