Peas as treats and soft shelled eggs

[Kkrista123]

@cheezenkwackers If I were you, I'd stop feeding pea's for a little to see if problem resolves or at least dramatically slow down on the peas. Maybe try giving them a different treat for a while or a new one every day to expand their diet.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/the-ultimate-list-of-duck-treats-and-supplements.242460/
This list of duck treats is super helpful!

 

[Savager]

I started giving my chickens peas since I was giving them to my ducks and they took a liking to them. I have only had one chicken who had been laying throughout the winter, and one other who just started but stopped the day after we got snow. Do you think peas could be it? They have free choice oyster shell but I've never seen them touch it.

 

[Kkrista123]

@Savager I would think the snow did it. Feeding peas especially only once seems highly unlikely to be the cause. However, it can't hurt to switch up the treats to include a variety!

 

[Cayuga momma]

You know I have given my ducks thawed frozen peas a few times because I thought they'd go crazy for them. They didn't at all. Strange isn't it?

Mine are the same. They don't enjoy peas. They do love tomatoes though.

I have had issues with soft shelled eggs for the last year. So, I was hopeful when my girls stopped laying for the winter that they would have time to refill their calcium stores and lay nice, hard-shelled eggs when they resumed laying in the spring. Well, they have begun and the problems are continuing. I have supplemented with calcium in several forms and vitamin D for months with only minor improvement. I found an article today which suggests that high concentrations of phosphate in their blood can cause shell-less or rubber eggs. Since peas are high in phosphorus, I am wondering if I have been causing the problem because I give them peas as treats every morning. Has anyone who gave peas daily had this problem? Or, do any of you give peas daily and not have shell quality issues? Any help would be appreciated.

Every bird is different. Some can feed treats everyday and not have problems. Others do have problems with that many treats. I know it's hard, but I would cut out all treats for awhile and see if the egg shell quality improves.

 

[Kkrista123]

Good advice!

 

[Savager]

@Savager I would think the snow did it. Feeding peas especially only once seems highly unlikely to be the cause. However, it can't hurt to switch up the treats to include a variety!

Well it wasn't just once, I must have phrased that weird. I got my ducks after my chickens, and gave the chickens corn as a treat but once the chickens started to see me giving the ducks peas they started to like them. So now I give all of them peas as a treat. Do you think it's just individual difference that one of my chickens is laying consistently, or maybe is she the only one eating oyster shell? Or anything else that could be affecting it.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@DuckyDonna Gil doesn't really like pea's either! She hates tomatoes and dislikes strawberries and corn. I hope I don't ever have kids this picky!!!! When I found out ducks could have a little bit of low fat or non fat milk I let her try a little bit thinking she would love it. She didn't seem to care for milk either! She dislikes her treats 'quack snacks' ever since she had mealworms.

The quack snacks I am referring to are these (not my pic but same product!)
View attachment 1681184 She liked them at first, then had mealworms and didn't have much interest in these little balls of poultry treat!

She will eat lettuce and some veggies, mealworms, oyster shell as she needs it, french fries and anything I am eating. I try to make sure she doesn't eat french fries... but she goes so crazy for them and always steals some and I can't be mad at her for it because she turns her head and gives me that look!!!

OMG, you crack me up! After reading everyone talking about peas being "the" treat I thought my ducks were retarded or something.

Mine aren't that crazy about lettuce or corn although in the winter I give them cracked corn because it's supposed to help keep them warm in the winter somehow. I mix it with their food so they can't help but eat it. Now tomatoes they go nuts for. I think it's their favorite, that and melons. I should do a video of them eating from the daily treat basin. They are like piranhas if there are tomatoes.

Oh, and I tried the idea about putting the mealworms (yuck) in an empty water bottle and letting them kick it around until the worms fall out. They were terrified of the bottle and never touched it!

 

[LilyLoo]

Did you throw them a party?Happy Birthday Lily aN Loo

Aww thank you..they did celebrate a little bit

 

[mandtc]

I noticed calcium deposits and thin egg shells from my 2year old hen a couple months ago.
I started giving her the shells of her or the chooks eggs at dinner time and that cleared everything up within about a week!
I now make it a habit of feeding an eggshell back to her a couple times a week... sometimes she eats them sometimes she doesn’t. I guess they know what their body needs better than us!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Thank you everyone. I do feed my girls their eggshells and oyster shell in a dish. I have tried calcium citrate with D and calcium gluconate with only minor improvement. My girl whose eggshells are the worst is a three year old Khaki Campbell who was a super layer. Once she started laying at four months she didn’t stop until this past December. She only missed a few days during that whole time and never molted all her feathers (until this January). I figured she had simply run out of calcium laying all those eggs. In December I switched their feed to Purina’s Omega Layer and she stopped laying and molted. This week laying resumed and she is back to rubber eggs. I was really hoping the break and new feed would help. That is why I am wondering if the morning peas are part of the problem. They only get maybe 1/3 to 1/2 a cup for the six of them but the girl with the issues is smarter than the rest and may be getting more than her share.