Brenda Jones
Songster
okay, this is going to be long. I have 3 Sapphire Gems that are 8 months old on April 5th.
my one girl (Head girl) has been laying regularly since she was 17 weeks and has only had 2-3 soft shelled eggs. my youngest (smallest girl) has been laying regularly since about 21-22 weeks and has only laid a few soft shelled eggs also and will occasionally give me an egg that is over 90 grams. But my middle girl (Marigold) who has been laying not terribly regularly since she was about 24 weeks. She has been giving me soft shelled eggs more often than she gives me regular shelled eggs. and most often is laying those soft shelled eggs at night (sometimes during her normal laying time) and very often she will lay more than one soft shelled egg, sometimes she will lay a soft shelled egg at night and then lay a slightly deformed hard shelled egg during her normal laying time. Often when she lays a hard shelled egg it is 90-100+ grams (can you say goose egg) her largest so far has been 108 grams. My girls are fed Scratch & Peck raw, whole grain, organic, layer feed with oyster shells+ egg shells free choice, I try to give the healthy treats that have micro nutrients, protein, and calcium also. My vet (who only has experience with production poultry - but he is the only one who will see them) said it was a calcium deficiency and he even checked with the State University Veterinary school. My other girls have perfectly hard shells- sometimes even difficult to crack they are so hard. I started adding powdered oyster shells + egg shells to their food (which I already ferment) after I saw the vet. Marigold continues to lay soft shelled eggs as well as hard shelled eggs (off & on) and now my poor little one (Matilda) laid a 114 gram (4oz.) egg with very hard shell & wrinkles today. It took her almost 2 hours.
My vet said that there was nothing wrong with Marigold's reproductive system (he did x-rays and a stool check for worms / parasites- all negative), So I don't know what to do at this point, I can't keep giving the others extra calcium when they don't need it- I have no place to separate them for feeding either. Is this just because she is "a new layer"? If so, how long before she gets past it?
If not, what should I be doing / looking for? ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE
my one girl (Head girl) has been laying regularly since she was 17 weeks and has only had 2-3 soft shelled eggs. my youngest (smallest girl) has been laying regularly since about 21-22 weeks and has only laid a few soft shelled eggs also and will occasionally give me an egg that is over 90 grams. But my middle girl (Marigold) who has been laying not terribly regularly since she was about 24 weeks. She has been giving me soft shelled eggs more often than she gives me regular shelled eggs. and most often is laying those soft shelled eggs at night (sometimes during her normal laying time) and very often she will lay more than one soft shelled egg, sometimes she will lay a soft shelled egg at night and then lay a slightly deformed hard shelled egg during her normal laying time. Often when she lays a hard shelled egg it is 90-100+ grams (can you say goose egg) her largest so far has been 108 grams. My girls are fed Scratch & Peck raw, whole grain, organic, layer feed with oyster shells+ egg shells free choice, I try to give the healthy treats that have micro nutrients, protein, and calcium also. My vet (who only has experience with production poultry - but he is the only one who will see them) said it was a calcium deficiency and he even checked with the State University Veterinary school. My other girls have perfectly hard shells- sometimes even difficult to crack they are so hard. I started adding powdered oyster shells + egg shells to their food (which I already ferment) after I saw the vet. Marigold continues to lay soft shelled eggs as well as hard shelled eggs (off & on) and now my poor little one (Matilda) laid a 114 gram (4oz.) egg with very hard shell & wrinkles today. It took her almost 2 hours.
My vet said that there was nothing wrong with Marigold's reproductive system (he did x-rays and a stool check for worms / parasites- all negative), So I don't know what to do at this point, I can't keep giving the others extra calcium when they don't need it- I have no place to separate them for feeding either. Is this just because she is "a new layer"? If so, how long before she gets past it?
If not, what should I be doing / looking for? ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE