The calcium punch doesn't seem to be working - what do I do next?

[Rockergirl]

For the past couple of weeks my lady (easter egger, about 10 months old) has been laying broken eggs. She has a history of calcium deposits on her eggs. About a month ago, they started losing pigment, almost white and now the past 2 weeks - every egg is broken (either on the poop board or in the nest box). She eats oyster shells and a weekly scrambled egg. For the past week I have given her half of a scrambled egg every other day (with oyster shells cooked in it) and yesterday I add a calcium citrate/Vit d3 pill to the scrambled egg. I thought for sure I would see something different by now. Nothing. Just grabbed another broken egg in the nest box (to my amazement another hen laid in the same spot after her and didn't eat it....). Now what? Is this a bigger problem? How much longer do I give her scrambled eggs with oyster shells and calcium pills? If this doesn't do the trick, then what? She is her normal self otherwise - she is the lowest on the pecking order, a bit of a runt and a loner, super sweet and gentle.

 

[Rockergirl]

Do they have oyster shells available at all times? Yes every day until you see improvement. To fix a deficiency you essentially have to fill that deficiency with a high dose then supply it until the body can regulate it on its own.

Yes, I have a container filled with oyster shells for them at all times. Thank you. I'll keep giving her the calcium pills each day. I'll probably check back in here in a week if I don't see any improvement...just to make sure I'm still doing things right....

 

[Rockergirl]

Give her calcium every day for at least a week.
Do you feed any ACV? I have possibly found that to be a cause of thin shelled eggs.
I had a hen do this, and nothing I did seemed to help, but then she went broody, and after her body had a rest from egg laying, the problem was fixed.
But if she is not a broody breed, that is not going to be any help...

I was giving ACV occasionally but not every day. I stopped that a couple of weeks ago, as the weather started to warm up. But it was a very very little amount. yesterday, she took the pill mixed with a scrambled egg. Today she took a bite and walked away (which is surprising because she LOVES eggs - but I can imagine the crushed calcium has a strong taste)). So tomorrow, I have to figure out another way to give her the pill and my husband is out of town....so I don't have an extra hand. I may try to go back to mixing oyster shells into half an egg (she ate that with no problem) until my husband gets home in a couple of days and then have him help me drop a calcium pill in her throat.

The other ladies are starting to get pretty jealous. I do give them a treat in the outside run while I give her the egg in the covered run, but they have caught on....they are obsessed with eggs. The head hen isn't a bully, except for when it comes to food...so hopefully this doesn't stir up something. I'm new to chickens so I don't know if they remember this kind of thing and start to act up or not.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Dose her with the calcium for a week or until you see improvement. It often takes more than one dose to see any change. What oyster shells are you using? Are they by any chance the hard white rock like ones? I ask because my chickens and ducks always seemed to have issues with the white pebble like oyster shells. Since I switched to the gray flaked oyster shells like what scratch and peck sells I have had no issues.

 

[Rockergirl]

Dose her with the calcium for a week or until you see improvement. It often takes more than one dose to see any change. What oyster shells are you using? Are they by any chance the hard white rock like ones? I ask because my chickens and ducks always seemed to have issues with the white pebble like oyster shells. Since I switched to the gray flaked oyster shells like what scratch and peck sells I have had no issues.

I use the ones from scratch and peck, the gray flaked. I see her eat them and I have mixed them into the scrambled eggs. With the calcium supplement/pill, do I do it every day?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I use the ones from scratch and peck, the gray flaked. I see her eat them and I have mixed them into the scrambled eggs. With the calcium supplement/pill, do I do it every day?

Do they have oyster shells available at all times? Yes every day until you see improvement. To fix a deficiency you essentially have to fill that deficiency with a high dose then supply it until the body can regulate it on its own.

 

[Sussex19]

Give her calcium every day for at least a week.
Do you feed any ACV? I have possibly found that to be a cause of thin shelled eggs.
I had a hen do this, and nothing I did seemed to help, but then she went broody, and after her body had a rest from egg laying, the problem was fixed.
But if she is not a broody breed, that is not going to be any help...

 

[Sussex19]

I was giving ACV occasionally but not every day. I stopped that a couple of weeks ago, as the weather started to warm up.

That is long enough ago to have cleared up by now, if it was a cause.

So tomorrow, I have to figure out another way to give her the pill and my husband is out of town....so I don't have an extra hand. I may try to go back to mixing oyster shells into half an egg (she ate that with no problem) until my husband gets home in a couple of days and then have him help me drop a calcium pill in her throat.

If you wait till its dark, its pretty easy to do it by oneself.
I tend to just leave them standing on the roost, and pull on the wattles and pop it in.
It might take a few tries.
Or, tuck her under your arm, and do it like that.

 

[Rockergirl]

No success with holding her and trying to put the pill in her throw. My husband and I tried together. We almost had it....but a no-go (I think she is traumatized with that now....). She is such a small bird (the runt) and has such a small beak...I can't even imagine that huge pill even being able to go down without chocking her. It's almost the size of her beak. I tried hiding it in cheez whiz (read that somewhere on here), but she couldn't stand the texture. Then I tried it in mash banana. she ate the banana and a sliver of the pill but then ate around the rest. However - the best luck I've had was with sweet potato. The texture was such that I could make teeny tiny balls and slide in pieces of the calcium. I was only able to do half of one, doing that yesterday and also gave her an egg with oyster shells in it. Today, she actually had a full shell, YAY!!!! But, it's still on the thinner side and the pigment is still lost. I think (hope) one more day of the pill and maybe she will be good. The sweet potato didn't go as well today, so this time I tried a small sliver of soft cheese (not cheez whiz) and got a 1/4 of the pill in her that way....

Question - once I get her shells back to normal...am I always going to have to give her calcium supplements....it is not fun. I leave out oyster shell free style, but obviously that didn't help her case.

NEXT Day update: Well, I think I got hopeful too soon. She had a full hard shell yesterday, less pigment (and the day before that was actually a hard shell, but had a hole in it) but this morning I found her egg on the poop board. It wasn't broken (amazingly, after dropping a decent distance from the roost) but it looks a bit like a water bed/water balloon....). I've been trying to dose her up with extra calcium every day for almost 2 weeks.....getting a little hopeless...

 

[Rockergirl]

I'm still having no luck, it's been more than 2 weeks of added calcium each day....I really don't know what else to do....all week, it's been broken eggs. Today I did get a full egg but the calcium deposits were INSANE, it was very thin and the pigment is still gone. I'm sure I'll get a broken one tomorrow.....the other time I got a random shell not broken, the next days they were all broken...