Thin-shelled eggs = retirement time?

[wf1992]

One of my 2-year old ISAs has been laying thin shelled eggs since about new years. Which means I'm constantly cleaning goo off the other eggs, replacing shavings in the nests, and worrying about somebody getting a taste for raw eggs. Such a waste of the poor dear's almost daily efforts! They're on layer, with free-choice shells. She didn't molt over the winter, and is showing no signs of it now either. I'm assuming this is simply an age thing...

I'd try a couple weeks of crushed calcium pills if that would give her a few more months, but that's not something I'm prepared to do on an ongoing basis. Has anyone ever managed to get an older hen back to laying thicker shells? Or is it just retirement time? Thanks!

 

[azygous]

Two years is not old, except to the fiscal business concerns of a commercial egg factory.

How much of the crushed calcium tablets would you say this hen has been getting? Five or six hundred milligrams is necessary per day to make a difference. Type of calcium makes a difference, also, the citrate form being most readily absorbed. Calcium carbonate and gluconate are difficult to absorb.

To assure maximum effectiveness, do not crush the tablet, just pop it into the beak whole. You will be able to stop giving it when you see the shells are sturdy again. They may have some calcium "warts" indicating the shell glad has been adequately resupplied.

 

[wf1992]

Two years is not old, except to the fiscal business concerns of a commercial egg factory.

How much of the crushed calcium tablets would you say this hen has been getting? Five or six hundred milligrams is necessary per day to make a difference. Type of calcium makes a difference, also, the citrate form being most readily absorbed. Calcium carbonate and gluconate are difficult to absorb.

To assure maximum effectiveness, do not crush the tablet, just pop it into the beak whole. You will be able to stop giving it when you see the shells are sturdy again. They may have some calcium "warts" indicating the shell glad has been adequately resupplied.

Well, this is one of my 'working girls', so while I realize 2 isn't old for other birds, she's a hybrid. I have no real expectation of productivity beyond the next few months.

How many days of tablets would I expect it to take to resupply the shell gland? And then how long do you think that might last before it was depleted again?

 

[azygous]

It's been my experience with even the most stubborn cases of thin shells and often accompanied by double ovulation,( two complete eggs, not double yolks), that once the cure has been achieved, it will last that season and perhaps into the next and beyond.

The actual length of therapy is individual. Most hens I've treated were laying normal shells within two or three days, while a couple of other stubborn cases required a month to get the eggs coming out with normal quality shells and reset ovulation to release just one yolk per cycle.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Thin shells don't have to mean retirement, don't worry. I have a gal that's notorious for paper thin shells. I give her eggshells in addition to the layer feed they get and that seems to help most days