Ready made Breakfast! Ugh!

[Missbump14]

Hi everyone! First time poster: be gentle I live in the UK, and bought my first flock back in July. I have 6 warren browns who were all born back in February. Theyre a hybrid from a very reputable seller. All throughout July and August, they laid well and I was getting 6 eggs a day. Wow! Peony had a brood, but after 'doing her time' in chicken prison broke out of it in 2 days and within 2 weeks of that, was laying again.
My problem is this: 5 are pretty much laying as normal now that we are into autumn. One (and I am not sure who) is continually laying a soft shell at night, and the girls are helping themselves to 'breakfast' in the morning. This has been going on for a month and a half and in that time, I've continued with their usual layers feed, but added an egg strengthener to it, given them access to oyster shell (their run is sharp building sand, so they pretty much ignore the shell, thought I'd try though) and they have cider vinegar in their water. I have checked their house for mites, and nothing. I am at a loss as to what to do next and need your help, experienced chicken keepers!

Thanks in advance!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Try stopping the ACV. It can sometimes interfere with calcium uptake.

 

[Missbump14]

Thank you, I'll give it a go

 

[RodNTN]

X2 @oldhenlikesdogs, I was faithfully putting a tablespoon of ACV in my chickens' water for about a month once. I had to deal with soft-shelled eggs for a while after that After I stopped the ACV the eggs went back to normal, I hope it's the same for you!

 

[Missbump14]

I'll keep you posted

 

[Labradors]

Wow! Thanks for the info about the ACV. I too was giving it and I had a soft-shell layer who is now a non-layer . BTW I heard that chickens don't always like to eat oyster shell, but that feeding their own eggshells back to them (in a separate dish) after they have been washed, dried and crumbled, can help. I tried it and all four of them thought the crumbled eggshells were treats!!!!!

 

[townchicks]

You also might try isolating a few hens at a time, to see if you can figure out which one is having the problem, if you do, you can supplement with crushed tums or calcium tablets, mixed into a treat.

 

[Labradors]

townchicks, great idea! What kind of treat would you suggest?

Linda

 

[MissLavender]

One way I've found that works to get my hens to eat more calcium (since they refuse the oyster shell AND their own eggshells) is to strain the oyster shell through a sieve, collect the oyster shell dust and mix it in with something delicious, such as scrambled eggs or cottage cheese.

 

[FlyWheel]

If you ferment their feed you can also try stirring some eggshell into that.