Large variance in egg laying behavior and quality, anything else we can do to help her?

[Bawkbok]

Some people over dry or microwave them-I just wait for them to dry

I assumed they had to be baked or boiled or microwaved, heated in some way; I don't know where I got that impression. If letting them air dry is all one needs to do that is obviously so much easier. Is there a benefit or some bacterial reason why folks heat dry them vs. air drying?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

If letting them air dry is all one needs to do that is obviously so much easier. Is there a benefit or some bacterial reason why folks heat dry them vs. air drying?

I don’t know honestly. I am sure there is some logic but I have never had an issue air-drying them. I did have issues accidentally toasting them though so I stopped baking them. I don’t own a microwave to try that method.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I assumed they had to be baked or boiled or microwaved, heated in some way; I don't know where I got that impression. If letting them air dry is all one needs to do that is obviously so much easier. Is there a benefit or some bacterial reason why folks heat dry them vs. air drying?

My guess is the main concern is bacterial, though I don't know of any evidence that proves that you should (or proves that you don't need to) process the eggshell in some fashion to make it "safe."

The way I handle it is I collect shells on an oven safe tray, then on days when I'm baking something I put it in during preheat cycle. The oven's already on so might as well use it, and the heat bakes off any sticky residue and makes the shells crunchy so they're easier to crush.

 

[C Siena]

I soak them in water a couple of times to rinse off any yolk residue. I need to do this as someone at Church brings us about 3-5 dz shells every Sunday. As they are wet, I will place them in the sun to dry. If I'm in a hurry and need shells, into the dehydrator they go.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I soak them in water a couple of times to rinse off any yolk residue. I need to do this as someone at Church brings us about 3-5 dz shells every Sunday. As they are wet, I will place them in the sun to dry. If I'm in a hurry and need shells, into the dehydrator they go.

I no longer soak and bake, as there's just a little egg white on mine, but if there were yolk, I would do this too.

I like the idea of a dehydrator! Baking in the microwave - phew!

 

[Bawkbok]

As they are wet, I will place them in the sun to dry.

After soaking and simmering, they seem to take days to dry out. Such a simple, great idea. Don't know why it never crossed my mind. Thanks for sharing. Dehydrator is a good idea too.

 

[thecatumbrella]

You already got the best advice, but wanted to chime in with my (limited) experience. My Golden Comet, which I'm pretty sure is just a rebrand of the Cinnamon Queen, also gorged herself on oyster shell. Her eggs were so hard I had to buy a special tool to crack them! I ended up transitioning them to a higher protein layer feed once everyone was laying. That seemed to satiate her need for tons of oyster shell.

 

[Bawkbok]

You already got the best advice, but wanted to chime in with my (limited) experience. My Golden Comet, which I'm pretty sure is just a rebrand of the Cinnamon Queen, also gorged herself on oyster shell. Her eggs were so hard I had to buy a special tool to crack them! I ended up transitioning them to a higher protein layer feed once everyone was laying. That seemed to satiate her need for tons of oyster shell.

Good point on the protein. I recently read somewhere on this site (can't recall where) to feed meat twice a week, which I just started doing, so hopefully this will help. There just currently aren't enough bugs around here as we need more rain and everything seems to go into hiding during triple digit heat.

 

[Serenityintheverse]

Kalmbach is a major brand of feed. Quality should not be an issue. I would stay away from Purina. I find this to be an inferior feed. The non GMO crumbles & Henhouse reserve blended works for my girls. They love it and I have had no issues for years. I do mix extra probiotics in the feed

How many chickens are in there with her? Could it be that the weird eggs may be from another chicken? She is still early in laying so it is normal for consistency issues and for egg size to vary. Stress can also cause issues. Also, I would not be concerned with laying time as it will not be the same every day.

How do you feed the oyster shells? Is it in a container that has a hefty serving or a small portion? You should not be needing to refill it 3x a week even if you aren't feeding a layer feed. That is incredibly excessive. Does she know where the food is?

Reproductive issues can also cause issues but normally those develop when they are older, not at 8 months. If it were me I would switch to a layer feed from a name brand like purina, nutrena, dumor, or another well known brand for the time being. I've had issues with poor feed quality that lowered the nutritional value of the feed. This reflected in thin shelled eggs that were constantly broken. All flock is still a good option normally but right now I would test something new out while you figure out what is causing the issue.

 

[Fluffy_Butt_Hutt]

We have a Cinnamon Queen, 8 months age, been laying for 66 days. For the first 34 days she was laying a perfect egg same time every day. For the past month, these are the issues we're seeing:

-- Skipping a day all together
-- next day will be two eggs, one right after the other, one semi-hard, the 2nd a soft shell usually broken, laid within a minute of each other. This has occurred several times over the past few weeks.
-- a lash egg found in the run, followed by a hard shelled egg
-- egg laying time inconsistent now from overnight (finding at first light in nest) to evening time
-- hard shelled eggs missing the paint department and almost devoid of color, but not white
-- First 30 days, consistent weights of 2.0-2.4 oz // past month weights vary from 2.4 - 3.5 oz!! Several double yolk eggs weighing 3.4-3.5 - huge dinosaur eggs! They don't even fit in an egg carton.

She eats a TON of oyster shells every day. I am refilling that trough about 3x weekly. When she skips laying for a day we start her with Calcium D3, 400 mg for several days. Food is Kalmbach 20% all flock. No changes in diet.

Questions:
Should we provide a Calcium supplement every day for an extended period? Provide no calcium at all?

We buy the OS from the local feed store, 50 lb. bag. Could the OS be deficient in quality? Is there a 'better' option for OS we should be considering to keep up with her functional demands?

What else could or should we be doing to help her get back to consistency? Or am I dreaming since she is a production breed?

Severe increase in temperature and triple digit heat indices and stressful construction noise, heightened activity close by past three weeks - would this be an impact?

Poops look good, activity normal.

Thanks for any insight and advice.

Based on other people's posts it sounds like it could just be the hen figuring it out or a digestive and processing issue. Vitamin D is known to help, you can get human ones and break it up in to fourths and give every one to two days to a struggling hen. Do check dosing by yourself though and match to your hen's weight. Otherwise, you can try B2 for other digestive issues.