egg shells

[tony warner]

one of my hens eggshell is so thin there getting broke in the coop any solusions would be graetful tony warner

[Hilary B]

oystershell, but some hens simply DO lay thinner shelled eggs than others.

[Katie O Connor]

any sea shells that you collect and just crush with a stone will help!

[CountryFayre]

put unrefined cider vinegar in the water. Also have a good look at the birds diet and see if there are any changes you can make to ensure your birds are getting all the balanced minerals and vitamins they need - or used a supplement.

[tony warner]

thanks for your suggestions i will try them out

[Eyren]

I'm having the same problem with my Wyandotte bantam - as she has gotten older her eggshells have become a lot thinner and slightly uneven, and sometimes she lays eggs with no shell at all! She gets the same diet as the pekins whose eggshells are nice and strong (when they can be bothered to lay!), plus she's plenty high enough in the pecking order to get as much of anything as she wants, so I don't think diet is the problem in her case. I can only assume that her shell gland just isn't working properly...

Re your own hens, I would address their diet first - supply plenty of mixed grit and/or oyster grit, and you can also feed their eggshells back to them (bake in a cool oven first to kill germs, then put in a plastic bag and crush up small with a rolling pin). You can also buy limestone powder or liquid calcium supplements, which may be worth a try.

If that doesn't help, you might just have a hen with a malfunctioning shell gland, like my Angelica. As long as she's happy and healthy, and the thin-shelled eggs don't encourage an egg-eating habit to develop, it might be something you have to learn to live with.

[Two_Sheds]

It is quite common for a hen to very occasionally lay a thin-shelled or soft-shelled egg. A few hens do this for a short while and a very few may do this for several weeks.

This is extremely unlikely to indicate a problem with a hen. The one-off dodgy egg is just a blip in the egg production system, possibly caused by a shock, but usually no cause can be found.

Treatment
If you do get more than one thin/soft shelled egg from a hen, you may find it helpful to review the amount of calcium your hens get in their feed. A good quality layers mash/pellets should contain enough, but hens that eat a lot of other things while free ranging, or get lots of treats may need extra calcium. You can buy poultry grit or oyster shell from feed merchants, or you can recycle your own egg shells. Just bake them and then grind them up. Soft Shelled Eggs - Omlet Club Wiki

[sunflower]

One of my ex bat hens has always laid a soft shell even though I give plenty of oyster shell and serve up a good quality layers mash plus plenty of greens in the late afternoons. It's just her way I guess, other than that she appears to be healthy.
The thing I have a problem with...so perhaps someone can enlighten me is this. If hens are laying a poor quality shell...not just soft shell but also thin, surely it ca'nt help recycling the shells and give them back to the chooks My novice theory is that, if the shell is lacking in calcium in the first place, surely it cannot benefit the hens??? Or am I wrong?

[Hilary B]

The egg shell has the same chemical composition whatever its thickness (or lack of). It may take 2 thin shells to make one good one, but all 'old shell' is pretty much the same otherwise.

[Snadger]

I have what seems to me, course, oyster shell in a dish in the coop, which I chuck a handful of layers pellets into in the forlorn hope they'll get some oyster shell as they eat it. I also have a sand pit in the run.

I still get soft shells and thin shells now and again although it seems to be decreasing as they get the hang of this laying lark.

My query is.......what is grit? Is it finely crushed oyster shell or very course sand?

Going up to Jolleyes this morning so will purchase some pigeon grit and give that a try as well!

[Hilary B]

chickens need 2 types of grit, soluble for making egg shells (usually oyster shell) and insoluble, for doing what our molar teeth do, grinding the food small so it gets digested properly. If the insoluble grit they are getting is sand, it needs to be VERY coarse. Imagine chewing something 'tough' with half-size teeth.......