soft egg

[MaureenHall]

Try putting obstacles in the way of the nest boxes at night. I've put cardboard boxes in mine, round about 4 in the afternoon when they've all finished laying for the day. They do get the hump a bit, and as I leave 1 empty for the old ladies, have you ever seen 6 chooks all try to squeeze into a space 18"x18"x18"? The other 7 are all on the perches watching the shenanigans

[sheena]

I just got back from getting their next bag of pellets, but was fortunate enough to remember to askabout limestone flour... which they had at an amazing price of £3.50 for 3kg (That should last me... forever!)

Even thought I'd treat the girl's to some mixed corn too!
They gonna love their mum no matter what.. I hope!

[HayleyB]

Ha ha, I was just gonna post that Frontier sell it, next time you are down PM me and you can pop in for coffee, we're a mile and a half from the A1....

Soft shells acn occur through premature laying if the hen gets a sudden shock like His Lordship switching on the lights at midnight in Chookenham cause he wanted sommat in the yard, causing a girl to fall off her perch and lay a premature egg (see Dambusters film - poultry farmer). Apparently the egg disappeared as the veloceraptors all leapt in

[sheena]

mmm, well i don't think it's perches, as I don't have any yet in the home.
Note to self: get Perches very soon!

but i've giving them all a small amount of the flour and here's hoping tomorrow starts better than today.

[di]

Try putting obstacles in the way of the nest boxes at night. I've put cardboard boxes in mine, round about 4 in the afternoon when they've all finished laying for the day. They do get the hump a bit, and as I leave 1 empty for the old ladies, have you ever seen 6 chooks all try to squeeze into a space 18"x18"x18"? The other 7 are all on the perches watching the shenanigans

Think I may need to give this a go...mostly they all perch at night,but as some mornings the nestbox is full of poo,I know there's times when one sneaks a kip in there!:rolleyes

[HayleyB]

I put my nest boxes up at night barring 2 so they can go early if they like, but they have all learned to perch pretty quickly and it means the eggs stay clean.

[sheena]

All ok today... Have an egg from all them this morning, so the flour must of worked a treat.

Thank you guys, I owe you yet again!