I cured egg drop syndrome-2023

[10k Feet Farms]

I have a few hens I rescued late September 2022, I believe them to be buff orpingtons, they were said to be about 2 years old, I know nothing about them. All the birds looked healthy, but this is probably why the previous owner wanted rid of them, thinking they were egg eaters.
I kept them in quarantine for 1 week before adding them to my flock. I'm sure due to some stress, not everyone was laying st the time. These chickens lay extra extra large eggs. Soon after incorporating into my coop, I too thought they were egg eaters. One was laying completely shellless eggs, while another was laying super thin eggs. I would put my finger straight through the shell just trying to collect it. So when other hens got in the nest the egg would crush all over the good eggs. This did cause some eating of the eggs. I have oyster shells (no one touches them) and feed a quality higher protein layer feed as well as apple cider vinegar in their water. I live in a cold climate at 10k feet. So by December, everyone quit laying for the season. Late February egg production restarted, with the same issues. This is a complete nightmare. I've done all the research and found that nothing could be done. And not knowing which of the 2 of 5 has the issue. I decided to force feed calcium that th hens wouldn't reject. I started saving all my egg shell, after dried, I ground them up and added them to the mash I feed when its super cold out. I ferment crumble, then add hot water to make it just a bit soupy. So I started adding about a cup of egg shells a day to the mash, this was for about 20 chicken, for about a week. They gobble it all up without a second thought. I now have zero shellless or thin eggs.

Was it true egg drop or just a calcium deficiency, who knows but it fixed the problem and maybe you can too!

I'm still saving shells and mix in the mash more often, I don't rely on expensive oysters, though I still offer it.

 

[Tonyroo]

I think it was calcium deficiency. Most hens that lay normal to hard shell won't eat there own eggs.

As far as the oyster I did have that problem with my hens not eating it until I smashed it to almost the grain of sand. Then they ate it. Guess size matters.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Was it true egg drop or just a calcium deficiency, who knows but it fixed the problem and maybe you can too!

Welcome To BYC

Your title reads "I cured egg drop syndrome-2023" Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS) is caused by an atadenovirus-induced disease for which there is no cure, it can also be transmitted both vertically and horizontally. EDS is a reportable disease in some states.

Since the problem seems to have been corrected by offering calcium supplementation, I would hazard a guess that Calcium deficiency and/or poor nutrition was the cause of the poor quality of eggs.


https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/egg-drop-syndrome-76/egg-drop-syndrome-’76
https://www.poultryhub.org/all-about-poultry/health-management/disease/egg-drop-syndrome-or-eds#:~:text=Egg drop syndrome (EDS) is,a normal peak in production.