The root of my soft/thin shell egg problem. Not Calcium, Water issue

[patman75]

I only have 5 hens and I’m constantly having at least one hen dealing with soft and thin shell eggs every day. I have added grit and oyster shells and still my hens have soft/thin shell issues.

I have been dealing with my own health issues and tracked down that my water well has a few heavy metals in the water, Arsenic, barium, copper, zinc. I don’t drink my water anymore but my chickens do.

I had an environmental specialist over at the house to discuss what I can do with my water. As I was feeling him out with some questions I asked him “What does affects these heavy metals have on calcium in the body?” Now he does not know I have chickens. He said (Para phrasing) “You body will use calcium to bind to these metals to help expel them from your body. In this area chicken farmers where having problems with chickens laying thin shelled eggs. They tried a bunch of things to fix the problem but not until they used a high plant based diet high in bio available minerals to combat the heavy metal did the problem go away. Also filtering out the heavy metals will do the trick as well.”

Again, I did not tell him I have chickens nor did he know I have chickens.

I was pretty surprised to hear that it was a regional issue. But not total surprised with what he said because I had suspected it because of the testing I had done on my water, test reports from my area from the national tap water quality database http://www.ewg.org , certain house plants that I have show signs of toxic exposure, and I course my health issues that started a few months after we moved into this house.

So the plan is to correct the water, in the mean time I will give my girls extra veggies and I think I will pick up some bulk spring water and give it to the chickens for a few weeks and see if the soft/thin shells go away.

I hope this helps those who deal with this same annoying problem.

 

[KKatknap]

That is really interesting! Very good information.

 

[chookchick]

Thanks for the good information! Does your water taste funny? How did you figure out that you had a problem with heavy metals? And last, did he give you any idea of what that "plant based" diet would look like? That would be interesting to know.

 

[Akane]

Most areas high in heavy metals are high in calcium so it tends to cancel itself out. Our water is described as liquid rock. It comes out red or brown and gritty. We just put in a whole house RO filter which is being killed at about 4 times the speed it's suppose to even in hard water situations. I still don't really feel like drinking the water.... Having grown up in this town I'm not sure I can ever drink something that comes from the tap whether it's city or well water. I'm not sure I could if I moved. When I lived in a larger nearby town I got the RO refills for $.25/gallon to give to the animals since I only had to transport it about 4 blocks and 10' from the car. We never drank water growing up until we got bottled water. There are people that actually have drinkable water come out of a well/faucet?

 

[Mahonri]

My wife and I drank the tap water here until we both got kidney stones.

Now, we filter. No stones.

If I feel anything coming on... I buy distilled water and drink that. (and take my vitamins that have minerals in them)

 

[LynneP]

The water treatment system to remove arsenic was developed here at a local university after trouble in former gold-mining communities revealed heavy metals- I'm so glad you identified the problem...

 

[Siler]

I visited that website. Very scary to think about. I know my well water here is pretty gross being one of the oldest and shallowest wells in the area and something I've always thought about. I personally don't drink the water from the tap but my ladies do. Thanks for the link.

 

[fordmommy]

Wow! Very informative. Thank you for sharing!!!!

 

[patman75]

Quote:
My water tastes very good. No iron. The enviromental specialist said my water tastes ok because the things that make water taste bad is disolved, but still there.

I fiqured out I was dealing with Heavy metals because I my health issues. I'm very sentitive to chemical, additives, processed foods, gluten, sugar, etc. After I being on a very healthly diet I was still having off and on issues. Since i was only drinking water, I tested my water. Found some nasty things in the water. After only drinking distilled for 2 weeks my little nagging health issues stopped. I also check the 4 local communities all on wells on the National Tap Water Database. My water had very similar things that showed on the local cummunites test reports.

I would guess that the "Plant based" diet would be similar to what a free range chicken would eat. Probalby feed mixed with lots of greens, clover, alfalfa. Not much green stuff to free range on in the winter in Michigan. My hens are in a tractor in the spring-fall and get to free range a couple times a week.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
We have amazing well water, even though it has a wee bit if iron in it. It comes from an artisan well. Tests show its good stuff
My parents have perfect water, that comes from and underground river.
We also will readily drink water form many of the artisna springs around here, as the water they produce is outstanding.
So yes, there are plenty of good wells and springs around