OYSTER SHELLS

[LMN1966]

I have NOT been able to find "crushed" Oyster Shells here on the Big Island/Hawaii ... Have had to resort to the "manufactured" Oyster Shells/Coral (white pea sized). That's all that's being sold here at WalMart and the feed stores (only 2 on this side of the Island). My girls (3) have been laying and provided with the white stuff since they started laying Aug 2020. One of them started laying a funny shaped egg since Dec 2020, like it's having difficulty coming out/gets stuck. On the 8th of this month, she laid a soft shelled egg, an other the week after, two last week.

I have always fed the crushed shells in the past but been told by the workers at the feed store, it's Covid & they haven't been able to get any. I found "crushed" OS on Amazon (Scratch & Peck), I purchased just as an experiment. It's been a week and since feeding them the crushed, she hasn't laid any soft shelled eggs plus yesterday I noticed her egg shape is back to normal.

So my question to all of you ... What kind of Oyster Shells are you feeding; crushed or "white peas"? Have you noticed any difference with egg shells?
I was going to cull her thinking it was her reproductive system starting to be an issue, she'll be a year in March and I've never had this issue before. I'm on the fence deciding to keep her & maybe it is the OS or send her to my friend when she thins out her flock next month. Your opinions/advice always welcomed ...

Thank you all in advance
Pic of Dove's odd shaped eggs ...

@aart @azygous @casportpony @Eggcessive @Kiki @rosemarythyme @ @Wyorp Rock

Keep your egg shells. Clean and dry. Crush them and feed to your flock! This calcium as the same as the oyster shells. Good luck!

 

[aart]

This calcium as the same as the oyster shells.

Kind of but, they don't last as long in the gizzard as the oyster shells.

 

[catballou]

Same here on the feed layer feed, but I give calcium on the side. They eat quite a bit of it. Sometimes I add their egg shells crushed up and they eat those readily. They know what they need.

 

[adigi4mom]

Is that egg a normal shelled egg? It looks like a body check to me, which happens when the egg is turned internally before its laid. Have you tried feeding their eggshells back to them? Most of my hens prefer crushed eggshells. I also supply the rock looking oyster shells but I notice they tend to pick out the crushed eggshells. My Pekin duck loves the rock oyster shell but she's the only one.

I’ve noticed a few of mine like this lately. I thought it was from the extreme cold. Should I be concerned if they are doing this?

 

[BeckyOB]

I have NOT been able to find "crushed" Oyster Shells here on the Big Island/Hawaii ... Have had to resort to the "manufactured" Oyster Shells/Coral (white pea sized). That's all that's being sold here at WalMart and the feed stores (only 2 on this side of the Island). My girls (3) have been laying and provided with the white stuff since they started laying Aug 2020. One of them started laying a funny shaped egg since Dec 2020, like it's having difficulty coming out/gets stuck. On the 8th of this month, she laid a soft shelled egg, an other the week after, two last week.

I have always fed the crushed shells in the past but been told by the workers at the feed store, it's Covid & they haven't been able to get any. I found "crushed" OS on Amazon (Scratch & Peck), I purchased just as an experiment. It's been a week and since feeding them the crushed, she hasn't laid any soft shelled eggs plus yesterday I noticed her egg shape is back to normal.

So my question to all of you ... What kind of Oyster Shells are you feeding; crushed or "white peas"? Have you noticed any difference with egg shells?
I was going to cull her thinking it was her reproductive system starting to be an issue, she'll be a year in March and I've never had this issue before. I'm on the fence deciding to keep her & maybe it is the OS or send her to my friend when she thins out her flock next month. Your opinions/advice always welcomed ...

Thank you all in advance
Pic of Dove's odd shaped eggs ...

@aart @azygous @casportpony @Eggcessive @Kiki @rosemarythyme @ @Wyorp Rock

I only feed my girls their own egg shells. I've never spent a dime on oyster shells! I save the egg shells when I use their eggs by putting them in a bin in my fridge then when it's full, I spread them out on a cookie sheet, bake in oven, then certain them... No waste! Just look this up on the Internet. Many people do this.

 

[WIchickMama]

I use the flake from Scratch and Peck, order directly from their site. A Fleet Farm close to use (1 hr) advertised a 40lb bag of flaked OS that I might try. I also feed their shells back to them and they pick it out as well

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I’ve noticed a few of mine like this lately. I thought it was from the extreme cold. Should I be concerned if they are doing this?

I have some that do this a lot more often than others. As long as there are no other issues, it's not been a problem in my experience. Some of my bantam hens have always laid eggs with body checks. If the shells start to thin, looks like they've been mended internally, or there's no shell, you'll need to address it

 

[3KillerBs]

I only feed my girls their own egg shells. I've never spent a dime on oyster shells! I save the egg shells when I use their eggs by putting them in a bin in my fridge then when it's full, I spread them out on a cookie sheet, bake in oven, then certain them... No waste! Just look this up on the Internet. Many people do this.

Are you feeding layer so that they have an external source of calcium? Or do they eat a lot of bugs to get calcium from the carapaces?

I give mine both their own eggshells back and the calcium grit that my local feed store sells because they need calcium for their own bones and body functions as well as for their eggs so every time you recycle it by feeding the shells a little is lost to the hen's own needs and less is available for the eggs.

 

[ChickNanny13]

As long as eggs aren't the top priority there's ways to deal with problematic layers, whether that means giving her additional supplementary calcium to help with shell issues, or just more checking of the nest boxes to clean out any messes made by soft shelled eggs.

I haven't had any birds become egg bound despite the fact that I do have a couple with shell quality issues, like I have 2 older birds that don't lay regularly anymore and don't absorb calcium so well. So when they do lay, the shells tend to be more fragile despite my supplementing them with oyster shell laced mash.

Great idea about "lacing" their mash ... I usually dump the "dust" from the crushed shells on the ground, have been experimenting with dusting their afternoon refill of fermented feed. Don't want to jinx myself but it's been a week and haven't had any soft shelled eggs from that one hen
Feed store still don't have crushed shells, glad that Amazon does even if I need to pay a bit more. Still thinking the Manna Pro (oyster shell/coral) is not equivalent to the actual crushed Oyster Shells ... That what the whole jest of my posting this thread, wanting to know if you all noticed any "difference" between the two.

Thank you all for your response and knowledge.

 

[raingarden]

Feed store still don't have crushed shells, glad that Amazon does even if I need to pay a bit more. Still thinking the Manna Pro (oyster shell/coral) is not equivalent to the actual crushed Oyster Shells ...

Yikes. I just reordered shell from Amazon. The one they sell used to be little flakes about 1/8 inch diameter or so. This new bag has big flakes about 1/4 inch in diameter. You can't hide 1/4 inch pieces in their feed and expect them to eat it. They just pick around it. They do the same thing with the white rocks. I'm going back to using coral sand.