Soft shelled eggs

Birdie2019

Songster
May 12, 2020
241
397
146
Florida
I have a hen that has always had soft shelled eggs. She eats layer feed, and, for her first few eggs, laid ordinary eggs, though they weren’t as hard as others. Then she started laying soft shelled eggs. At a year old now, she still isn’t laying good eggs. Every now and then she has eggs without shells, but she doesn’t really lay anymore. I have provided oyster shells and occasionally gave her some tums with bread (crushed up tums, dissolved in water, and soaked with bread) but she doesn’t usually eat any. What is there left to do to help this? I am in desperate need of her eggs because she is my only hen of this variety for this breeding project. Of all her eggs, there has only been one fertilized and the chick is a rooster. Please help
 
I have always wondered about the idea that chickens will eat the oyster shell as needed. Surely some don't? You might try her on a food that contains oyster shell (Layena). The dried soldier fly larva is supposed to be pretty high in calcium, too, higher than mealworms. Might try that.
 
I have a hen that has always had soft shelled eggs. She eats layer feed, and, for her first few eggs, laid ordinary eggs, though they weren’t as hard as others. Then she started laying soft shelled eggs. At a year old now, she still isn’t laying good eggs. Every now and then she has eggs without shells, but she doesn’t really lay anymore. I have provided oyster shells and occasionally gave her some tums with bread (crushed up tums, dissolved in water, and soaked with bread) but she doesn’t usually eat any. What is there left to do to help this? I am in desperate need of her eggs because she is my only hen of this variety for this breeding project. Of all her eggs, there has only been one fertilized and the chick is a rooster. Please help
Get some Calcium Citrate with Vit-D into her,
you can get it in the vitamin aisle of stores that carry them.
You'll have to give it daily and directly for at least a week.
Tho not sure I'd breed a bird that has this issue.

@azygous and @rosemarythyme both have experience with giving this supplement.
 
Your hen need a calcium booster before she ends up egg bound. Shell-less eggs are more likely to get stuck and thin-shell eggs are at risk for collapsing inside a hen, causing infection.

Get some of this and give one tablet each day until her eggs are normal.
F57D4B6B-216D-49EC-A92C-3DFAF3C5915E.jpeg
Pop the whole pill into her beak. She won't choke. It slides right into the crop.
 
Thank you guys for your replies. We ordered some of the stuff and will try these as soon as possible. I was worried about egg binding too. The only reason we are breeding her is because we only have a pair of these guys. If we could find more nicely typed, Wheaten based MFCB, then we’d probably breed them instead. Thank y’all for the help.
 
Mix the crushed tums with scrambled egg?
We tried this along with some egg shells. She didn’t even go near it. She won’t touch it.

Your hen need a calcium booster before she ends up egg bound. Shell-less eggs are more likely to get stuck and thin-shell eggs are at risk for collapsing inside a hen, causing infection.

Get some of this and give one tablet each day until her eggs are normal. View attachment 2845444Pop the whole pill into her beak. She won't choke. It slides right into the crop.
I did what you said— same stuff but it says “petite” on it. She is a bantam anyway and the pill was still pretty big for her. She swallowed it and I will repeat each day as well. Thank you guys
 
I have a hen that has always had soft shelled eggs. She eats layer feed, and, for her first few eggs, laid ordinary eggs, though they weren’t as hard as others. Then she started laying soft shelled eggs. At a year old now, she still isn’t laying good eggs. Every now and then she has eggs without shells, but she doesn’t really lay anymore. I have provided oyster shells and occasionally gave her some tums with bread (crushed up tums, dissolved in water, and soaked with bread) but she doesn’t usually eat any. What is there left to do to help this? I am in desperate need of her eggs because she is my only hen of this variety for this breeding project. Of all her eggs, there has only been one fertilized and the chick is a rooster. Please help
Hi there, sorry to hear about your poor girl :( I'm having a similar problem and was wondering how you went with the with the calcium booster. Did it help her out? Hope her eggs have improved!
 
Hi there, sorry to hear about your poor girl :( I'm having a similar problem and was wondering how you went with the with the calcium booster. Did it help her out? Hope her eggs have improved!
With the calcium pills, I did it for about two weeks, but nothing. I should probably continue them for a little longer, but it’s so hard to catch her! I don’t think I should breed from her, especially since she won’t lay anything (I can’t). But I think the pills, for more minor issues, would work. Thinking my hen’s is just so severe that nothing helps much. Tell me if yours ever lays anything!
 
We tried this along with some egg shells. She didn’t even go near it. She won’t touch it.


I did what you said— same stuff but it says “petite” on it. She is a bantam anyway and the pill was still pretty big for her. She swallowed it and I will repeat each day as well. Thank you guys
I am going to try this as well. I have a hen laying soft and very thin shells. Worries me to death.
 

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