Thin egg shells

[Airplaneguy57]

I have BOs. They have food all of the time. They are able to free range all they want. Granted we are dry as a bone down here in south Texas. They have crushed oster shell anytime they want. I still have thin shells. What else can I do?

 

[southerndesert]

How old are your hens?

 

[Airplaneguy57]

About a year old

 

[CarlaS]

You can try putting calcium in a different container. Thats supposed to thicken the shell as well as oyster.

 

[southerndesert]

Try perhaps making sure treats (anything other than layer feed) is only 10% of their diet and not fed except mid-day so they eat their layer feed in morning and before roost. Also offer free choice oyster shell as you are doing.

Why do I suggest this, well I found myself facing this years ago and after the same advise from a friend it was problem solved with our hens. You see they were actually passing up eating their layer feed and waiting for me to show up with goodies instead and not getting proper nutrition.

Now the reason I asked about age is older hens lose the ability to get the shell right sometimes and there is no fixing that in my experience.

 

[Chris09]

There are 4 primary things that can "regulate" egg shell quality.
Protein,
Calcium,
Phosphorus,
Vitamin D

Vitamin D3 is needed for proper metabolism of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) and in the formation of normal skeleton, hard beaks and claws and strong eggshells. It is also required for absorption of Ca and P from intestine and deposition of calcium in bone. Ca and P are needed for bone growth. Deficiency in Ca and P or imbalance of either will result in bone and egg shell malformations. Hyper amounts of Vitamin D may cause renal damage and pimpling of egg shells. Rickets occurs in young birds and osteomalacia (cage layer fatigue) in mature birds.

Chris