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[cleopatra]

I was getting soft shells from my RSL pretty regularly. Some were rough in texture and hard for her to pass. They have oyster shell available, but never touch it. So twice a week I give the girls (5 chickens in all, but the RSL eats most of it because she's alpha and a pig) 2 Tbs of cottage cheese or yogurt with some oyster shell sprinkled on top. They gobble it up. I haven't seen a soft shell since I started this about 3 months ago. I've never seen soft shells from any of my other girls of different breeds, but RSLs are egg laying machines and need a bit of extra calcium in addition to what's in the layers feed. Hope that helps.

 

[Peep_Show]

re: Soft-shelled eggs

I had a bout where all started laying soft/no shell eggs. Turns out the crumbles they were eating were duck food** which apparently sucked the calcium right out of them. As soon as I got the right feed back to them, the eggs were proper.


** Our feed store has open bins for those that only want a couple pounds of feed or scratch or grains or grit. Kind of nice if you don't want to buy 50 lbs of oyster shell. But *somebody* got the crumbles from the wrong bin..... Lesson learnt.

 

[Nutcase]

I was getting soft shells from my RSL pretty regularly. Some were rough in texture and hard for her to pass. They have oyster shell available, but never touch it. So twice a week I give the girls (5 chickens in all, but the RSL eats most of it because she's alpha and a pig) 2 Tbs of cottage cheese or yogurt with some oyster shell sprinkled on top. They gobble it up. I haven't seen a soft shell since I started this about 3 months ago. I've never seen soft shells from any of my other girls of different breeds, but RSLs are egg laying machines and need a bit of extra calcium in addition to what's in the layers feed. Hope that helps.

I have tried the yoghurt and it works for me too! I was having some problems with my youngest hen, and when I added shellgrit her feathers grew back beautifully. Some people suggested that it might be molting, but it went on for nearly 18 months so I have my doubts about that.

Before:


After:

 

[kada6305]

I added the Oyster shells. 2 days ago, well this morning I got 1 brown egg and 1 Duck egg. still expecting 1 more brown egg from Nugget around 10. But I also got 2 no shell eggs on the poop board again! What can I do? Is it just a new layer thing? I am going to mix it in with their food, maybe they arent eating the oyster shell.

 

[CrosStitching]

A very wet Sunshine and Cheep. My two RSLs. The sillies were just playing in the rain today.

 

[mpgo4th]

Nelly was my first layer, best layer and earliest in the morning layer. My first egg was layed on the floor of the coop. I put golf balls in the nesting boxes and ever since the eggs are where they should be. I have six RSL and three are laying so far. Nelly lays by 10am but the other two are always after noon.

 

[mpgo4th]

I've had oyster she'll available free choice since they were 16 weeks old. In two weeks they have barely eaten a baby chick feeder full of it. No soft shells or shell less here so far. My layer feed is also 4.5% max calcium which is higher than some I have seen. Maybe that helps.

 

[kada6305]

I mixed some in with their feed. We will see what this weeks brings ended up getting 5 eggs total today though! Plus 2 no shells,

 

[cmom]

I've had oyster she'll available free choice since they were 16 weeks old. In two weeks they have barely eaten a baby chick feeder full of it. No soft shells or shell less here so far. My layer feed is also 4.5% max calcium which is higher than some I have seen. Maybe that helps.

The birds will take what they want. They may not eat much. I have dishes in all of my coops and about once a month add a cup full, but I have a lot of birds. Usually 300 to 400.

 

[mpgo4th]

The birds will take what they want. They may not eat much. I have dishes in all of my coops and about once a month add a cup full, but I have a lot of birds. Usually 300 to 400.

Thanks for that info. I always wondered how much they really ate of it.