Soft shells and missing feathers.

[Julesb76]

I have questions.
First, a little info on my chickens. I have 1 white chantecler hen. She’s just under a year old and two red hens that are even younger. I feed them lying mash and have recently started with shell mix from the feeds store because the white hen lay soft egg shells. Sometimes. Sometimes her eggs are fine but they have calcium bumps on them. My questions about the eggs are;
Why are they still soft?
How bad is it that they are starting to eat them when I got get them?
What else could it be if they are still soft after feeding the shell mix? Should I put it right in their food or keep it in a dish on the side (that’s how it is now)

also

one of my red hens I noticed has missing feathers on the side of her neck. Down to the skin. No bleeding or marks that I can tell. What’s up with that?
I should also mention I am from east coast Canada in case the weather has anything to do with any of these problems. It’s cold and we have tons of snow. The chickens all stay inside all day.
Thanks for any help!

 

[turkey girl 0964]

This might be helpfulhttps://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/commom-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[BDutch]

It’s best yo give the oyster shell aside in a separate bowl. Sometimes its the food that causes problems with soft shells. But if you have calcium spots the chickens have no shortage of Calcium.

Hoe much room have you’re chickens inside the coop? Do they eat the soft shell eggs?

Maybe a lack of space is one of the problems for feather picking. Can you give them more space?

 

[Julesb76]

I did put it in a separate bowl beside their food.
I only have the three chickens. I believe they have ample space. Each have their own nesting box but they all seem to want to be in the same one
But I have a suspicion of who is pecking the poor little red hens neck
They will eat the soft shelled eggs yes.

 

[Julesb76]

Also thank you for helping!

 

[BDutch]

I’m no expert in treatments for harder eggs nor feather pecking. But I do know that stress and insufficient space is often the reason for misbehaviour.

So my question still is : how much space do you have in the coop? Is there a way you can get the chickens outside the coop? Or roam somewhere for distraction?

 

[BDutch]

@aart , @ChickenCanoe , @rosemarythyme can anyone of you help ?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How old is the red bird with missing feathers? In those bare spots, are there pin feathers growing in (they look like plastic-y quills)? I'm guessing it's possibly a juvenile molt (depending on her age) as that's not a normal area for picking on.

For the soft egg layer, have you actually seen her eating the shell mix? Normally you'd offer calcium on the side but sometimes there's birds that won't eat enough of the calcium they need, so you have to force them to take it.

Since you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her a minute to eat and after that she's free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then her problem is not calcium, but rather some glitch in her system, likely the shell gland.

 

[Julesb76]

Also thank you for helping!

I’m no expert in treatments for harder eggs nor feather pecking. But I do know that stress and insufficient space is often the reason for misbehaviour.

So my question still is : how much space do you have in the coop? Is there a way you can get the chickens outside the coop? Or roam somewhere for distraction?

The coop is about 4ft x3ft for three chickens. They have access to outside and a thick layer of straw is down on top of the snow to protect their feet from the snow. But they refuse to leave the coop.

 

[Julesb76]

Their food and water are inside. Should I Put that outside to make them come out?