Shell issues, egg without shell, calcium troubles

[Kris5902]

I posted on Wednesday about my girls not having OS for about 4 or 5 days, now they are going crazy for it. I’ve started mixing layer feed in with their broiler (we don’t have an all flock here!) 50/50, they have the OS free choice and I’m refilling a small ziplock container daily for 10 pullets, I was getting one or two very thin shelled eggs but today I got this:

The black is dirt, it fell through my 1” HC floor below the roosts. Here’s their feeder

They barely touch their grit, but have been eating all the OS! Most of the eggs I’m getting have these little bumps all over them and are well shelled? Are they eating too much OS? The blob layer is laying super early or overnight, so I’m not sure who it is.

I don’t want to feed straight layer because I want to keep my beautiful Roos healthy... that’s him center right encouraged the girls to try the new pink grit.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Lovely flock.

As long as nothing looks cooked inside that egg then it should still just be a softee.

Regarding the bumps...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[Kris5902]

There’s my confusion, shell less eggs, thin shells, and over calcified eggs all at the same time... I don’t know what to do...

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Sounds to me like your birds calcium reserves were depleted and they are trying restore that calcium. Only issue with that is they are also continuing to lay while wolfing down all this extra calcium. So it makes sense that the eggs would reflect the fluctuations of calcium in their bodies.

I would continue with the layer ration and the oyster shell until this resolves itself. Your rooster will be fine, a few weeks or months will have no lasting effect on him. It's only if roosters eat layer exclusively for years on end that their bodies start showing a strain.

Also if they free range then he will probably not eat much of it anyways and will instead hunt bugs, seeds, grass, ect. I have 2 feeders in my coup, one of layer, and one with 18% grower, with oyster shell on the side. I want them to be able to choose which one they want, which is why I don't mix the 2 feeds together.

Honestly I don't see the rooster eat hardly any of either feed. Instead he rustles up most of his own grub when I let them out. I am lucky that good forage is available year round here.

Anyways, long way to say they should be fine, just give their bodies time to rebalance themselves. Good luck!

 

[Kris5902]

Sounds to me like your birds calcium reserves were depleted and they are trying restore that calcium. Only issue with that is they are also continuing to lay while wolfing down all this extra calcium. So it makes sense that the eggs would reflect the fluctuations of calcium in their bodies.

I would continue with the layer ration and the oyster shell until this resolves itself. Your rooster will be fine, a few weeks or months will have no lasting effect on him. It's only if roosters eat layer exclusively for years on end that their bodies start showing a strain.

Also if they free range then he will probably not eat much of it anyways and will instead hunt bugs, seeds, grass, ect. I have 2 feeders in my coup, one of layer, and one with 18% grower, with oyster shell on the side. I want them to be able to choose which one they want, which is why I don't mix the 2 feeds together.

Honestly I don't see the rooster eat hardly any of either feed. Instead he rustles up most of his own grub when I let them out. I am lucky that good forage is available year round here.

Anyways, long way to say they should be fine, just give their bodies time to rebalance themselves. Good luck!

Thanks, I worry a lot. I got back and found a few super thin eggs, found out the OS wasn’t getting filled, and fixed it. Now many of the eggs are showing signs of over consumption... little piggies, except for that shell less monstrosity (ewww, almost as gross as a lash egg!). Yes my Roo will peck at the OS too, but mostly for the girls attentions. I don’t have a pellet grower available, and they do not like the layer at all! given two feeders with broiler in one and layer in the other they just ignore the layer, eat all the broiler and forage.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Lol if you cut off their broiler, then it will take them less than a day to figure out Layer ration is just fine lol

 

[Kris5902]

Oh, I did once... if I every really want to cut down my feed costs I can just switch! They basically went on a two day hunger strike and barely touched the feed! They are now eating the mixed feed ok.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Wow, that must be some good Broiler feed! What brand is it? You could try a different brand of layer, or some prefer crumbles / pellets etc.

 

[Kris5902]

Otter co-op carries lifeline/whole earth, which is what my local feed store can order in. The broiler is a little high in fat, but so far it hasn’t been a problem... the crumbles were an unmitigated disaster. I was wasting way too much feed. If it was available in pellets it would be my choice. I’m very isolated, living on an island, and I would have to put in a full day traveling to get anything else. It’s frustrating

 

[Kris5902]

I had a similar reaction from my cows when I bought a different brand dairy texture for them as a stop gap... they actually turned their noses up at it! Normally they attack their “raisins”