thin fragile egg shells???

[IttyBiddy]

This forum has been a blessing for me too. I've been racking my brain, trying to figure out what else I can do for one particular hen. She's been laying jelly eggs for a month. Everything I read about oyster shell, which I've been giving her mixed with yogurt, along with layena, has not helped one I-O-TA (is that a word?)

I did think a fleeting thought about Vit. D3 supplement. Well, I'm headed out to get some Vit. D3 right now and I'll give her two weeks and see what happens. I had already set my mind to putting her in the stew pot, but I want to give her a fair chance to lay some shelled eggs.

 

[Celtic Chick]

Yes, IttyBitty, iota is a word.

I bought the BVS vit. D3 & have been giving it to my girls in their water since about May, about a tbsp. per gallon, to no avail. My PRs just stopped laying. So I started mixing the oyster shell right in with the feed and that seemed to help, along with getting them off Layena. Now I am back to getting eggs with nice hard shells, finally!

 

[BusyBlonde]

I never had problems with soft/thin shells until our Golden Comet hens were over 2 years old, then it seemed to be a problem with two or 3 of our hens. Now that our Barred Rocks have started laying, it seems as though their shells are even thicker than the Comet's ever were. We typically use Du-Mor laying pellets, and supplement with oyster shell. They also get a lot of garden "culls" - fresh produce that doesn't meet the standards for our table. I was amazed how quickly they could demolish a butternut squash! LOL