My 17 month old leghorn started her fall molt last week. She is still laying, but the eggs either have a very thin shell or no shell at all. They have oyster shells, and I feed them back the egg shells. Is tt just because she is molting? Any suggestions to get her through this ? I increased their protein and calcium. The other issue is the eggs are breaking after she lays them so I have to clean out the nest box every day. Her eggs are huge, so it's a huge mess in the nest box. Any advice is welcome. Thank you
Sorry your girl is having problems, the production birds like leghorns do tend to be prone to reproductive problems. The rest of your girls are doing fine? It does sound like she has a shell gland problem or something related to the her ability to use calcium at this point. If her eggs are huge I would actually consider lowering her protein level even if she is molting, since high protein leads to larger eggs which you don't want at this point http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2012000200010 and/or try keeping her in the dark for a few hours extra a day to try to throw her into a regular molt/ stop her laying for awhile. You could also try giving her different forms of calcium (some people do human supplements, ie cut up pills, or high calcium treats etc) so you are sure she is getting extra, most layer food is about 4% calcium (general figure is laying hens eat about 4 oz a day so about 4 grams calcium), http://www.hyline.com/aspx/redbook/redbook.aspx?s=6&p=53 http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs