Hen laying soft eggs - should we cull?

[ochochicas]

Nice job Krista! I think some hens just need more calcium than others. I have 12 laying hens that all get the same feed and live together. There is just one that has laying problems. I don't think she eats the oyster shells that are in the coop. She's been getting ground up calcium in scrambled eggs once a week and is back to laying normally again. Not sure if it is her age, or just that she isn't eating as well as the other birds.

 

[krista74]

Thank you! This girl of mine has never been the best layer, and despite being young she doesn't lay very often.

However, that being said, I would much rather get two good eggs from her a week rather than the 5 soft shelled eggs as we have been.

At least now she is not tempting the others to have a taste!

Well done on helping your girl back to good health too. I am hoping that as she gets more calcium, my girl might start to lay more frequently in the future.

Krista

 

[chicknshrimp]

Glad to hear your girls are doing well! Do you have the name of the powder you're using? Thanks!

 

[aart]

I have a BO who lays a soft shelled egg probably 4 days out of 7. Like you, I love her to pieces, and so far I've been lucky that she usually lays them from the roost and not in the nest. The other girls have not shown an interest in her eggs either, which I'm thankful for.

I feed layers pellets and also provide extra shell grit for my chickens. On top of this I bought a powder which is high in Calcium and Vitamin D, and is mixed into their pellets. They just eat it willingly. I have a liquid calcium on hand at the moment too, designed for cage birds such as parrots which my vet advised would be fine to try also. It is added to drinking water, and whilst I haven't used it yet, it is an option for later on.
I am hoping one or a combination of these things will help rectify our problem BO!

I am a first time chicken owner and got 6 hens and one rooster in my original flock. So far we have added one chick of unknown sex (he/she is only a week old) and I have a batch of 8 eggs under a second broody on Day 10. Like you, I wanted my girls to live long and healthy lives with me, no matter what happens egg-wise. I shudder when I think about culling - but accept that if one was suffering I would do what's best for them. I wish you all the best in your decision.

- Krista

Hi all,

Just wanted to give you all a quick update.

My girls have been taking the calcium powder I bought for 2 weeks now (it gets mixed into their food) and I have not seen a soft shelled egg in the last 5 days. That might not sound impressive, but I was getting 1 to 2 soft shelled eggs every day before, so it is quite an improvement!

Might be worth scouting around and seeing if you can find something similar? My vet said that despite getting a quality layer feed, some chickens just need additional support as far as calcium goes. Seems to be working, so I intend to keep it up!

Krista

This falls in line with an article I read to today about Calcium, Vit D and Phosphorus

 

[krista74]

Very interesting article indeed. Thank you for posting the link, aart, I very much appreciate it. You are right, it is much along a similar vein as to what I was talking about earlier.

When I first got my chickens in March I was feeding them solely on scratch - they were happy, but probably deficient in many vitamins! I was informed then that I should reconsider my feeding methods by the wise folk on these boards, and true to their advice that yes, my chickens WOULD eat layers pellets IF ONLY I would stop feeding them scratch, they transitioned well.

Isn't it funny how feeding chickens has become such an art form? I remember my grandparents just throwing a handful of grain out the window from time to time, and the rest of the time the chickens were left to their own devices. That being said, I'm sure they didn't expect one egg every day from their hens as many of us do. They used to have a huge flock (maybe 30+ in comparison to my 6 layers!) and I guess if they got 6 eggs a day they were happy. How times have changed.

Thanks once again for the link, aart.

Krista