Sapphire gem laid her first egg!!

[lauraschicks]

Here is my sapphire gems first egg! Not only is it her first egg but it’s also mine so exciting! She is 16 weeks old

Mine started laying this week along with my Ancona. All 3 just turned 4 months old. The Ancona eggs are small pullet eggs, but the Sapphire Gems came out full grown! That really took me by surprise. They were larger than my store-bought large eggs.

 

[rosemarythyme]

HELP! I just got home and my sapphire gem is not acting right. she was very slow moving and fluffed out. We saw part of an egg hanging out and I went to pick her up and it fell out. It was a soft shelled egg. She seems to be acting better now. Staying with the rest of the flock and eating and drinking. What can I do to prevent this? I give them all flock feed with oyster shells on the side but she doesn’t seem to eat them.

Young birds can have egg quality issues, so possibly this was a one off situation, but if you continue to find soft shelled eggs from her or continue to see her not eating any oyster shell:

Isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results.

 

[Juliacone35]

Young birds can have egg quality issues, so possibly this was a one off situation, but if you continue to find soft shelled eggs from her or continue to see her not eating any oyster shell:

Isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results.

Thank you! I will start doing this tomorrow. I am praying she doesn’t get one stuck again

 

[Outta Here]

Black Soldier Fly Worms are rich in calcium (mealworms have none), with a fairly balanced ratio of calcium to phosphorus. They are sometimes advertised as "Egg Armor" for chickens. My chickens would gorge themselves if I didn't dole them out as treats. During her special private breakfast, you could mix them with the finely ground oyster shell or ground eggshell, which some chickens like better than oyster shell.

 

[Juliacone35]

Black Soldier Fly Worms are rich in calcium (mealworms have none), with a fairly balanced ratio of calcium to phosphorus. They are sometimes advertised as "Egg Armor" for chickens. My chickens would gorge themselves if I didn't dole them out as treats. During her special private breakfast, you could mix them with the finely ground oyster shell or ground eggshell, which some chickens like better than oyster shell.



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Thank you! I definitely will

 

[Outta Here]

Thank you! I definitely will

I made little partitions for my feeder so I can offer oyster shell and egg shell without having more little pans for them to knock over or step in...
Their feeder doesn't go in front of their nest box---I just set it there for the picture.

p.s. My new (and only!) layer, a 19 week old Easter Egger on her 5th egg, really dips into the egg shell like snuff, but I've never seen her sample the oyster shell.

 

[Juliacone35]

I made little partitions for my feeder so I can offer oyster shell and egg shell without having more little pans for them to knock over or step in...
Their feeder doesn't go in front of their nest box---I just set it there for the picture.

p.s. My new (and only!) layer, a 19 week old Easter Egger on her 5th egg, really dips into the egg shell like snuff, but I've never seen her sample the oyster shell.
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That’s such a good idea!

 

[Cooptown Lady]

My first egg came from my Sapphire Gem. Her first egg, too, and a double-yolk. She's laid an egg almost every day since then (2 wks.)

I was shocked to see her eggs coming out GREEN! Surprise, surprise, she's an olive-egger.

 

[Outta Here]

That’s such a good idea!

So is she better now?

 

[Juliacone35]

So is she better now?

She hasn’t laid an egg since then. I saw her in the nesting box yesterday but she didn’t lay. She has been acting normal and I gave her crushed egg shells and she ate them like crazy. I am hoping next time she tries to lay it will be better.