Rhode Island Reds have weak shells - do yours??

[keeko]

Of my 9 girls, 2 are Rhode Island Reds. They both have incredibly weak shells, and lately I've been finding theirs broken in the nest boxes. (Luckily they aren't eating them!). All my chickens have oyster shells available free-choice in a designated feeder. And my other chickens (non-RIR) have the strongest shells I've ever seen! What's up with my RIR girls? Does anyone else experience that with their RIRs?

(p.s. mine are from McMurray, if that means anything)

 

[alaskapalo]

Quote:
Some of mine do too! And they get oyster shells too.

Bump

 

[wingsofglory]

Yes, mine have too. Also my Comets which are half RIR. And they were on the same diet as all the other kinds of my other hens. Why I'm only having mostly Easter Eggers now. They seem to have the strongest shells of alll. And rollaway nests - do search on Opa's rollaway nests built out of plywood! Cleverest solution to egg eating.

On other threads, some have found feeding back the egg shells to the flock makes stronger shells than oyster shell.

Crush and bake shells to kill microbes. Mix into hen's food. Try this and see if it works; and REPORT BACK if it solves the problem, ok? RIR and Comets are such good layers, I'd like to know if this really works. I'd like to have them again for their large size eggs.

There have been threads recently on production breeds part or whole RIR having thin shells, misshapen eggs, and laying problems. I think they are laying more eggs than their bodies can keep up with nutritional requirements. Its known they lay good for two years than are replaced with new hens commercially. Whereas heritage breeds lay less but healthily for many more years.

 

[stonykill]

most of my RIR's do as well.Very thin/weak shells. I've got a lot of Sumatra's and their shells are like iron!

 

[Momagain1]

I hope this isnt typical of the breed...we have 5 of them..and got them due to their productivity level...
if their shells are super fragile and break before we even get to them..what good are they to us??

 

[Fred's Hens]

It isn't a trait of the breed, but perhaps a trait, somewhat, of the strain you have.

I've have lots of Red birds and their shells are hard as iron. I do not offer oyster shells, never have. The shells get much harder, so hard they are difficult to crack in cooking, if they are ranging, in the summer. Less hard in the winter, but still mighty tough. I do re-feed egg shells, crushed into bits, back in their feed. I also feed a diet of layer pellets fortified with calcium. I severely limit scratch.

That's all I know. Experiment. Change feed? Re-cycle egg shells. Feed broccoli, if you have it available, anything.

 

[lvchicken]

I occasionally do, but not much.

 

[wingsofglory]

Fred - where are your red birds from?

I often wish people would put the source of their birds after the breed name, like: RIR (Ideal) or Barred Rock (Martispoultry). The info would mean a lot more.

I have found, for instance, Barred Rocks from two different hatcheries to be totally different in temperament and egg shape and size.

My Easter Eggers from two different hatcheries had different egg color and size: hatchery #1 had all shades of deep turquoise size large and extra large. Hatchery #2 had very pale true blue eggs size medium.

Its like the name of the breed just means the color in hatchery birds, but the strain or source tells more about all other characteristics.

I'm in Alaska and there are no chicken shows or many breeders like in the Lower 48 so hatcheries are convenient. On Craigs List, they are "chicks" breed rarely mentioned.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hatchery chicks are a crap shoot, all the way around.
I have used Townline and Meyers. But what does that really tell us? Sadly, very little, really.

 

[keeko]

Thanks guys.

I've been providing oyster shells over baking their egg shells and giving it back to them mainly because it's a "closed system" of calcium, if you will. I imagine the calcium gets recycled and eventually depletes over time. But I think I will try and still leave their oyster shells out - clearly it's doing what it needs to do for my other hens. My EE's (also McMurray, and one a local breeder) have incredibly hard shells also!

To be honest, I'm a little surprised that it's fairly common with RIR. I too am disappointed because they really are some of my favorites!! They are so full of personality, spunk, and are just a classic barnyard bird. Next go round I may try a different hatchery's RIR.

I'll start collecting egg shells, baking them, and feeding them back. It may be a few weeks (or more?) before I start to see anything...