KnightsMist
Songster
I have 8 young hens (~17 weeks), 1 laying consistently nice strong shelled eggs for about 1.5 weeks now (OE) and another who laid a nice strong egg late last week but has not yet laid another (WLH). I would have expected at least 1 or 2 others by now, even if she was only laying every other day as my OE did initially.
A couple of days ago, I saw one of the other hens pick up something in their run and try eating it while the others chased her. I couldn't tell what it was so I went to investigate and it looked like a shell membrane, but no yolk or shell pieces to be found.
This morning I went to let the girls out of the coop into the run and saw what looks like a shell-less egg, with yolk and a membrane, and separately, a large spot of diarrhea (pix of both below).
The girls are currently eating a mix of their remaining grower feed and all flock (all different breeds at various stages of readiness to lay, I think some are still several weeks out). They have free choice oyster shells available in a separate dish.
I know hard shells require more calcium- is there anything else I can do? Should I just transition everyone onto layer feed now? Any concerns about the hen who I believe laid the partial egg? I don't know if it's the same as who passed the diarrhea. All are acting normal, no other signs of anything amiss (aside from my EE with crop issues I've chronicled in another thread- she's hanging in there with a crop bra, doing OK for now). Thoughts? How concerned should I be?
A couple of days ago, I saw one of the other hens pick up something in their run and try eating it while the others chased her. I couldn't tell what it was so I went to investigate and it looked like a shell membrane, but no yolk or shell pieces to be found.
This morning I went to let the girls out of the coop into the run and saw what looks like a shell-less egg, with yolk and a membrane, and separately, a large spot of diarrhea (pix of both below).
The girls are currently eating a mix of their remaining grower feed and all flock (all different breeds at various stages of readiness to lay, I think some are still several weeks out). They have free choice oyster shells available in a separate dish.
I know hard shells require more calcium- is there anything else I can do? Should I just transition everyone onto layer feed now? Any concerns about the hen who I believe laid the partial egg? I don't know if it's the same as who passed the diarrhea. All are acting normal, no other signs of anything amiss (aside from my EE with crop issues I've chronicled in another thread- she's hanging in there with a crop bra, doing OK for now). Thoughts? How concerned should I be?