Calling all chicken experts! ANOTHER Question...

[lwheelr]

Give them calcium to strengthen their shells. They should have this as a regular thing, but especially if you see thin shelled eggs.

Free choice oyster shell is the best option, so they can get what they need, for whatever stage they are in. This works no matter what feed you are giving, and whether you have roosters in your flocks or not.

Also save your eggshells and don't compost them. Let them dry out, then crush them and give them back to the chickens. They'll recycle those into new eggshells.

Thin or missing eggshells is almost always a sign of calcium deficiency. It takes a lot of calcium to pump out an egg a day with a strong shell around it, since the shell is comprised of a high percentage of calcium.

 

[lorihadams]

If you feed them back the eggshells just pulverize them and mix it with their feed so they don't know they are eating eggshells!

 

[i_am2bz]

I usually do compost my shells, & I thought someone (maybe on BYC...?) told me not to feed shells back to chickens because they'll be confused into eating their own eggs...BUT...crushing the shells up & mixing them into their feed might work.

Really, it hasn't happened often...they've been laying since October 2009 & I may have seen 3 thin-shelled eggs (unless they've been eating the evidence!) since then.

 

[i_am2bz]

Thought I'd update, I think ya'll are right...I checked the nest box one last time around 5pm (strangely, all the hens were already roosting, about an hour early :/ ), & found a thin-shelled egg, squashed but recognizable. That would be 2 in just a couple days. Maybe there have been more all along but they were eating the evidence so I never knew.

As luck would have it, I have a dr appt in the morning, & will pass right by a TSC so will stop & get some oyster shell.

 

[lwheelr]

Hey, at least it is an easy fix, and an affordable way to get more usable eggs!

 

[i_am2bz]

I suppose, but now I feel guilty that I've been neglecting their nutrition all this time!!

 

[lwheelr]

The hens will probably forgive you. And they'll appreciate it when you give them the oyster shell.

We usually scatter it out on the ground with their scratch if they are outside, or if they are cage birds, we get a separate container for dirt and oyster shell, to provide for grit and calcium.

Probably best to not mix it in with feed, so those that need it can get more.

Nice thing is that chicken's have not been corrupted by fast food. Their appetite and requirement system is still intact, so they usually eat it if they need it, or ignore if they don't.

Oh, and if they've been outside, it hasn't been that bad, because they do get some calcium from naturally occurring minerals in the soil. Indoors in the winter though, they'd not get that.

 

[i_am2bz]

The hens will probably forgive you. And they'll appreciate it when you give them the oyster shell.

Yikes! I guess that's why they peck me sometimes when I'm not putting out their food quickly enough to their satisfaction...

I got a 50lb bag of oyster shell at TSC (the smallest size they had), but I guess it won't go bad, right?

 

[meriruka]

It'll keep.....just don't let it get wet or you'll have a bag of sharp cement!

 

[~gd]

It'll keep.....just don't let it get wet or you'll have a bag of sharp cement!

Sounds to me that you must have gotten a bag that had been overcooked (some of the calcium carbonate had been converted to calcium hydroxide) it is usual practice to heat the oyster shells enough to kill off any pathogens that might be present but the result should have been free flowing even when wet. I use it (oyster shell) in place of lime to 'sweeten' acid soil, the larger particle size make it slow release when compared to powder or even pelleted lime.