continuous soft shell eggs

[jennyt]

puzzling problem, i have 12 hens, six isa browns since last october, and 6 brown shavers since april. out of original hens i occasionally got a soft shell egg, but for one day only. But for perhaps last 10 days i have been seeing remains of soft shell egg daily. Grit is available to all so i really don't think that is the problem with the hen constantly laying the soft shell egg. all hens appear happy and are laying well, although i am treating them all, along with their hut, for lice which are apparent. the hen with the egg problem appears out of sorts, hunched and withdrawn, until the egg is laid, and then perks up. the question is, is she likely to come to again, and what is her problem? any help would be grately appreciated, ta

[poppydog66]

Apparently lime stone flour is good to help with shell quality, you can get it from horse feed stores, not sure how to feed it though but no doubt someone ll be along soon who knows

[manda]

Firstly grit alone doesn't give them anything other than help them to grind up their food in the crop - unless it's a mix of grit and something like Oyster shell. Grit is really the hens teeth.

If you are treating for Lice then that would affect the egg production - Lice can cause hens to be more nervous as they scratch and bite at the scaley bits on their skin. That in turn leads to reduced feed intake and weight loss.

That being said their are lots of other things that will affect the egg production too.
With soft shells or shelless eggs- often it’s not a case of getting enough calcium so limestone flour or a calcium supplement can help (limestone flour is the cheapest way of doing this – get it from horsey supplies) - sprinkle on a tablespoon per kilo of feed (it doesn't have to be exact) .
BUT …it can be they are not getting enough Vitamin D because of the reduced hours of sunlight (or just lack of sun full stop!). Vit D regulates the Calcium levels in the blood and so it’s essential for them to be able to use the calcium efficiently for making an egg. Specifically Vit D3 in poultry is the one I think.
You can up their Vitamin D by giving cod liver oil (max 1 tbsp per kilo of food or eggs will taste fishy!!), fishmeal or oily fish but again not too much unless you want fishy eggs (Herring are the biggest source of Vit D, Salmon, Sardines or the like), wheat germ oil, greens, or in solution with the water.

Soft shelled, shelless, watery whites and all sorts of other mis-shapes and odd bits are more common as chickens get older. If you have ex-batts they have been laying to the max so they will often get problems earlier.

The other and possibly the simplest thing to do is make sure you keep mixing the feed you have. Some of the bits of feed over time will settle to the bottom of the bag (or whatever you keep your feed in) …might not be such an issue with pellets though if that’s what you are using.

I would get the Lice treated and once they are gone if it is still a problem then I would get some limestone flour - 1 tablespoon per kilo of feed (doesn't have to be exact) and give that for a few days and see if that makes a difference.

Hope that helps

[jennyt]

thanks both for the advice.

manda, will take your advice about treating lice and then seeing if that improves things, then will try limestone flour. i had treated them all to, what i thought was, a good dusting of all-mite powder, also their hut. little blighters still running up and down the hens, so tonight's job is to SCRUB out hut v thoroughly and reapply and this better work because the all-mite is quite expensive and i've already used up one tub (2 more bought today!!).

do you think i should clean out hut as planned tonight and go to town with the powder all over the fresh shavings tomorrow and keep them shut in for a few hours in the afternoon so they can have a good old dustbath and apply the powder themselves. i had tried a sandpit for them out in their run but they just ate their way through the kiddy sand!! also, they've got enough soil to bathe in anyway so applying the powder to a dustbath outside wouldn't work.

any advice on delousing welcome

j

[stace]

A good time to dust is later in the evening as they are getting ready for bed. If you have room get a box fill it with some top soil, or compost and sprinkle Diatom in there. Not sure what you are using,but thats great for redmite also

[jennyt]

thanks stace - will go out now to clean hut and will hopefully have time to dust tonight too, otherwise bathtime will need to be tomo. thanks for advice

[LynneP]

I'm having that problem with one hen only. She is so tired after trying to pass a softie. She's also going through a soft moult where the others are finished. I've been feeding her cooked egg in layer mash that is moistened and to which I've added yogurt and oil. For the longest time she seemed not to respond. Then this morning she ran out with the others and seems to be picking up. Birds can be very slow to recover so don;t give up. I assume your layer feed has calcium? But some birds, especially if entering a moult, need a lot of protein and calcium, and it can help to add soluble multivitamins to the water. I use baby vitamins without added iron.

[LynneP]

...adding that babyRuby goes up and down. Not so good today, still giving added nutrition and multivitamins. Always have ground oyster shell available. She is still in slow moult, where the others have gone through it and are robust. I would follow a nutritional route, always, unless you have reason to suspect another prob...

[sandy]

Beware last post

[sandy]

Beware last post

[wendy]

'tis done
Thanks Sandy