Trying to get one chicken to eat her calcium

[DonyaQuick]

Brownie is having new problems. I can't tell if she's egg bound or something else. If it's egg binding I'm worried it's because I stopped the calcium snacks and just left her to eat eggshell and oyster shell on her own. I gave her some calcium citrate but she's still not ok. If anyone following this thread can help I posted here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/egg-bound-or-something-else.1523200/

 

[Carson213]

I would use pellet feed and oyster shells. She'll eventually figure it out or not...chickens aren't very complicated.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

This afternoon I couldn't easily extract the oyster shell dust (bag is too full right now) so I ground up some eggshell really small and did a moistened mix of the regular feed, shell bits, and crushed up cricket and fly larvae.

Phase 1: Brownie realizes she can throw it everywhere to separate things and eat just cricket bits. I did not add enough water.
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Phase 2: with more water, Brownie can't separate it anymore but--oh what's that over there? Apparently not being able to pick out the cricket bits makes it uninteresting. The remaining wet cricket bits are starting to smell terrible. The dog disagrees.
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Change of tactics: bringing in a calmer, more focused chicken as competition. This gets Brownie back to gobble some more. Dog is patient. Very patient. The wait will be worth it to lick the floor clean when the chickens leave.
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I have a good-sized mortar and pestle coming later this week that should let me actually powder things properly, so at that point I may try just coating some wet dried bugs in eggshell powder and see how it goes with Brownie. Looks like I can also get calcium citrate powder online; not as cost effective as the eggshell but I think I'm just going to go ahead and get some in case Brownie does need that form to overcome her egg issues.

Ur a good chicken momma! Every evening, before roost, i will rake a little road way in the run and sprinkle feed and egg shells. Evening pecking around is a serious activity as everyone is fillin' the crops for the night. They eat every bite, whereas, if i did this in the AM, they are less interested. When i started offering egg shells on the side as free choice, they didnt touch it for 2 days. Now, every morning (3 days now), the egg shells are gone from the night before. My gals wont touch the mana oyster shells. Even if i sprinkle on the ground at night. I want to find real oyster shells somewhere and I'll crush them myself using a pillow case and hammer. Good luck! I know you'll figure it out. Oh, btw, that chicken in your house is BEAUtIFUL!

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

Yeah I honestly have no clue what the typical laying hen requires as far as calcium. So I adjust what I give the hens that need supplementing, by starting with a sprinkle 3x a week, and then reducing from there. If the shells are decently strong and consistent in quality then that means the reduced amount is sufficient. If not, then I increase it until the shell quality improves. For the most part I find 1-2x a week is enough, with some birds needing more and some less.

A sprinkle of what rosemarythyme?

 

[rosemarythyme]

A sprinkle of what rosemarythyme?

A sprinkle of oyster shell powder (I save crushed powder from my oyster shell dispenser) - that way it doesn't go to waste, and chickens that don't like oyster shell can be tricked into eating it.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

A sprinkle of oyster shell powder (I save crushed powder from my oyster shell dispenser) - that way it doesn't go to waste, and chickens that don't like oyster shell can be tricked into eating it.

The free choice crushed egg shells offered on the side has been a big hit. Emptied daily. Only problem is when i run out of egg shells. I've told my family that i share eggs with to give me back the shells. Reasonable request, right? They think i am chicken mad!! This pic was from 10 minutes ago