Hello fellow chickeners My hen Milly is about 1 year old now. She's the lowest hen on the pecking order, but none of them bother her when she's on the nest. Once she started, she laid normal eggs for about the first 4 months (Nov-March, I provided supplemental light), but for the past 3 months she's been laying nothing but soft or thin shelled eggs. I provide oyster shell free choice. And ground up eggshells free choice. For the past 2 months I've also been giving her a calcium supplement (400mg, with fish oil & vitamins A, D & E) most days. They all eat 16% layer feed, and get greens from the garden, along with sharing a cup of sprouted oats most days. Oh and I scatter a tuna can full of BOSS for them to hunt and peck for. I'm getting a bit tired of her eggs being wasted by getting crushed, and having to wash the goop and straw from all the other eggs. Can anyone think of anything else I can try? Thanks in advance, Jen
Here's a writeup on thin shelled eggs. Unless she is somehow getting too much salt, you're probably doing all you can do, at least judging from this article.
We even resorted to mixing the shell with the food to make sure our thin shelled layer got some. They still break when they are laid, and if I am lucky and it is one piece, it shatters when I pick it up. She just has a glitch in her works. I do not know which she is or I would cull her. Sometimes, the harassed hens will stop laying, or lay thin shelled eggs. Emotional distress like cleaning the coop, even messes some of my girls up.
Thanks for the replies. Ddawn, I don't see a link to an article, could you try reposting it? 3goodeggs, Hmmmm....she is the most 'flighty' of my flock. Maybe being on the bottom of the pack is just too much for her nervous temperament. I've recently begun to think about culling her, but she's is trying. I get a glop almost every day from her (either the other hens eat it if they get to it first, or my dogs get it). I wonder if she'd do well in a different flock, or maybe her shell-laying parts are just defunct. Jen
I had 2 out of 15 RSL's that had odd egg shell production, chalked it up to a defect in the system. One chronically layed jelly eggs, membrane with little or no shell. The othr had fragile shells and was almost always not fully formed at the large end of the egg.
