Sapphire Gem thread!!!!

[C Siena]

Woah! Beautiful eggs! I love the darker green speckles. Your girl there is beautiful as well! I like her reddish-copper leakage on her neck if I am seeing that correctly.

She really doesn't have the color leakage. All shades of gray/blue. We think she's a beauty.

 

[GreenCreekHaven]

We have a 2 year old "blue sapphire" hen and she is our most beloved girl. Her name is Nutmeg. For a few months now she has been struggling with getting egg bound and/or laying soft shelled. We even watched in distress as she strained to push out a crumpled hard egg shell with nothing in it.

We've taken her to the vet. They said calcium deficiency. She's not interested in the oyster shell. I save, bake, and crush our hens egg shells and feed back to them. We give our girls black soldier fly larve. We give her epsom salt baths when it seems like she is bound up. I don't know what else to do to help our sweet girl! Has anyone else had laying problems with this breed? She has the best demeanor and personality. I would have 50 of her if I could.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

We have a 2 year old "blue sapphire" hen and she is our most beloved girl. Her name is Nutmeg. For a few months now she has been struggling with getting egg bound and/or laying soft shelled. We even watched in distress as she strained to push out a crumpled hard egg shell with nothing in it.

We've taken her to the vet. They said calcium deficiency. She's not interested in the oyster shell. I save, bake, and crush our hens egg shells and feed back to them. We give our girls black soldier fly larve. We give her epsom salt baths when it seems like she is bound up. I don't know what else to do to help our sweet girl! Has anyone else had laying problems with this breed? She has the best demeanor and personality. I would have 50 of her if I could.

OH MY GOSH!!! Her feathers are the most beautiful gray color I've ever seen!
My SG hen got egg bound once because she lays giant eggs.
Seems like you are doing everything u can. You're feeding layer feed, right? Not all-flock bc it doesn't have enough calcium for hens to lay eggs.
One time, last year, I switched my chickies to all-flock because I learned the extra calcium is bad for the roosters. Because of me my brahma hen Dottie got a prolapsed vent from the lack of calcium in her diet. Vet put a stitch in her butt to keep the prolapse in, I switched her back over to layer feed, and the issue has not happened since.
I bet she's eating the calcium supplement when you aren't looking, that's what my babies do idk why though lol!! Do you free-range your chickens? Not ideal but you could try giving her a calcium pill once a day if it continues. Here's a link for more info. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-bound-hen.1469528/post-24480682

You also might want to try creating a thread on this issue with your hen. I hope this resolves

 

[GreenCreekHaven]

OH MY GOSH!!! Her feathers are the most beautiful gray color I've ever seen!
My SG hen got egg bound once because she lays giant eggs.
Seems like you are doing everything u can. You're feeding layer feed, right? Not all-flock bc it doesn't have enough calcium for hens to lay eggs.
One time, last year, I switched my chickies to all-flock because I learned the extra calcium is bad for the roosters. Because of me my brahma hen Dottie got a prolapsed vent from the lack of calcium in her diet. Vet put a stitch in her butt to keep the prolapse in, I switched her back over to layer feed, and the issue has not happened since.
I bet she's eating the calcium supplement when you aren't looking, that's what my babies do idk why though lol!! Do you free-range your chickens? Not ideal but you could try giving her a calcium pill once a day if it continues. Here's a link for more info. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-bound-hen.1469528/post-24480682

You also might want to try creating a thread on this issue with your hen. I hope this resolves

Thank you for responding and your kind words! I only thought to put the problem in this thread because she's my only breed that is having this issue. And maybe it is because she lays such large eggs, just like your girl does.

We don't have a rooster, so yes, my girls are on a high protein layer feed. She's the only blue sapphire we have and none of our other girls are having laying problems. Thanks for the link, I'll keep trying! She's precious to us.

 

[Seaslug]

GreenCreekHaven -- reading on this site I have come across flaked oyster shell -- apparently it is often more appealing to hens then the the normal stuff. I also have birds who seem to relish consuming egg shells but not so much the oyster shell that I am providing, and I have read that it can be difficult to provide enough calcium through crushed egg shell alone. I have not looked for the flaked oyster shell yet, but I am seriously considering it. You may want to look into it as well.