***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[NanaKat]

I think my weird egg layer has a defective shell gland. I know there's no way to fix that, but I don't want to cull her unless it becomes necessary. Maybe she'll make a good brooder, since I know I shouldn't breed her.

What do you mean by defective shelll gland? The part of the egg canal that coats the egg with the calcium shell?
Are her eggs mis-sharpen, soft shelled, ridged?
I'll try to find the link for causes and possible remedies for egg issues.

 

[BetsyOK]

Anyone going to the Canadian Valley Poultry Show in Norman? Entries must be postmarked by September 28. This is always a nice show. You can get information by contacting [email protected]. Hope to see some of you there!

 

[dunnmom]

@NanaKat She's just now 25 weeks. She's been laying for a little over a month. Her eggs have been large from the beginning. Same pullet that had the prolapse. Since she got started, we've had a few jumbo eggs, all were double yolked. When she laid these, she skipped a day between laying. The last one I posted a pic of didn't show it well, but it had a white band around the middle as if two eggs were fused together. A couple of times this past week, her eggs were thin and brittle shelled. The last couple were fine. I also noticed that her eggs almost always have vertical ridges on them. She is maybe a little on the chunky side, and her huge comb sometimes goes purple on the edges. She's shown no signs of respiratory problems or runny poo, or I'd think she was sick. My other birds seem healthy as well. We did switch their feed about 2 weeks ago to a layer crumble. Her eggs just make me paranoid that she will end up egg bound or have one break inside her.

 

[CLSranch]

@NanaKat She's just now 25 weeks. She's been laying for a little over a month. Her eggs have been large from the beginning. Same pullet that had the prolapse. Since she got started, we've had a few jumbo eggs, all were double yolked. When she laid these, she skipped a day between laying. The last one I posted a pic of didn't show it well, but it had a white band around the middle as if two eggs were fused together. A couple of times this past week, her eggs were thin and brittle shelled. The last couple were fine. I also noticed that her eggs almost always have vertical ridges on them. She is maybe a little on the chunky side, and her huge comb sometimes goes purple on the edges. She's shown no signs of respiratory problems or runny poo, or I'd think she was sick. My other birds seem healthy as well. We did switch their feed about 2 weeks ago to a layer crumble. Her eggs just make me paranoid that she will end up egg bound or have one break inside her.

Lay off the layer feed. That makes them want to lay more. If you can separate her and give her mostly scratch. She is trying to lay even more than she should. I have a bantam hen that lays the same size egg as my Dark Cornish. I worry about her some. They have free all flock or layer feed and get a can of scratch in the evenings. But they free range. Do's your hen free range?

 

[dunnmom]

They aren't free ranging right now. Neighbor's fence is down and we're afraid they'd wander off, or get attacked by a stray dog.

 

[Fallenone05]

Saw these today in my local Walmart and my first thought was, "This'd make a good chicken treat in the winter."

Dunnmom, it sounds like she could be having issues because she's a new layer, or you could be right about a defective shell gland. I hope it's just because she's relatively new to laying, and nothing bad. Good luck with her

 

[dunnmom]

We're down from 12 pullets to 9. One BR went to live at my mom's and the other 2 were taken by a predator last night. Weird thing is, there were no discernible tracks, no signs of a snake, no carcass, no blood. Just a bunch of feathers and scratch marks in the dirt. Our dogs did not alert us, either. Whatever it was, had to be strong enough to move a large plastic dog porter a few feet without tipping it, or leaving much evidence of it's coming and going. Our other pullets are safe, but we're going to set out live traps tonight to see if we can catch the culprit if it comes back for more.

 

[CertifiedChaser]

We're down from 12 pullets to 9. One BR went to live at my mom's and the other 2 were taken by a predator last night. Weird thing is, there were no discernible tracks, no signs of a snake, no carcass, no blood. Just a bunch of feathers and scratch marks in the dirt. Our dogs did not alert us, either. Whatever it was, had to be strong enough to move a large plastic dog porter a few feet without tipping it, or leaving much evidence of it's coming and going. Our other pullets are safe, but we're going to set out live traps tonight to see if we can catch the culprit if it comes back for more.

Hope your flock stays safe! I live in the suburbs and have seen an assortment of wildlife from opossums to skunks and even a couple coyotes. I don't know your location but a stray dog or coyote would probably be my guess. Don't know how strong coons are though..

 

[dunnmom]

We're suspecting coon or fox.

 

[okiebird]

Anyone going to the Canadian Valley Poultry Show in Norman? Entries must be postmarked by September 28. This is always a nice show. You can get information by contacting [email protected]. Hope to see some of you there!

Are these open to non-competitors to come view the birds? I'd love to go to one of these shows. In the past I've always ended up forgetting about them.