Matilda soft shelled eggs

[dozey1]

Can any one help please. Matilda is laying soft shelled eggs and Betty is grabbing it and all of them are egg eating . How do i stop it.. Please help...

[Glutton4...]

Hi dozey1, what are you feeding them? My ex-batts lay the odd squashy, and I used to have this problem. Now they've settled I don't get so many. My problem was too many treats, so they were eating those instead of their pellets. Now they don't get treats until just before bedtime, so they've filled up with 'proper' food with all the correct vitamins. Good luck!

[dozey1]

Thanks Glutton, you might be right i do tend to spoil them, also they are free ranging about an hour a night and out most weekends..

[Glutton4...]

Free ranging is fine - mine are on grass all day. They have hoppers with Layers' pellets in which they eat from when they get up, and during the day. Other than that they feed on whatever they find, which as far as I'm concerned is perfectly natural for Chooks to do!

They get a handful of corn about an hour before bedtime, and occasionally raisins. Every couple of weeks I add a cup full of Limestone flour (and baked/crushed egg shells) to the feed in the hopper so they take that in when they eat the pellets. I only get one or two squashies a week now from twenty girls, so not complaining.

Good luck.

[dozey1]

Thanks Glutton i think i will cut down the goodies..

[kibob]

Hi Dozey

Do your chickens have access to any grit, we put oyester shell in for ours to help with shell production.

Also, if this continues for more than a few days I would be tempted to seperate her to make sure the others can't get to the egg and eat it. Otherwise they can get into a bit of a habit of egg-eating.

hope this helps.

[Suechooks]

My ex-batts have laid occasional soft shelled eggs since I had them over a year ago. They tend to lay them overnight/early morning off the perch so generally eat them. It usually happens most days for about a week once a month then stops. They have always had grit and oyster shell available and have limestone flour every day. I think it's something ex-batts do as they are released as "spent" hens as the supermarkets won't have eggs from older hens as the shell quality deteriorates and they've probably never had extra calcium in the cages.
Mine never try to eat eggs with normal shells.

[Hashette]

I'm having a spate of softies too, from Attila the Hen, my fabulous little favourite. She keeps having off-colour days too.

The poultry centre where we get our feed from said it's lack of calcium, and recommended poultry spice, plus oyster shell mixed into their normal grit. It helped a bit, but basically I think her poor little body's just exhausted. She still hasn't managed to grow all her proper feathers after being out of the battery cage for six months

[Suechooks]

I'm sure you're right Hashette - some of my girls still haven't got primary wing feathers after 15 months and these occasionally look very lack-lustre despite all the extras. I think the ex-batts just can't utilise all the calcium no matter how much is available in their diets.

[jools the chook biker]

Can any one help please. Matilda is laying soft shelled eggs and Betty is grabbing it and all of them are egg eating . How do i stop it.. Please help...

Hens need calcium and Vit D for good hard shell production, if nutrient balanced feed and oyster grit doesnt work then its possible she has a 'egg shell making machine' defect its not an issue for the hen but it just the way she was built.
However ....another sign of calcium deficiency is EGG EATING so my advice would be - as you have 2 hens showing calcium deficiancy start with increasing this in the diet for all the hens.
cheers
Jools

[dozey1]

Thanks every one i will give them oyyster shell and grit but never see them eating it. I will try the limestone flour (can you tell me where to buy it please) I have had the girls since last October and Matilda still hasn't got all her feathers...

[Flummery]

Limestone flour is available from anywhere that sells stuff for horses - I think it's a food additive for ponies.

[Bephlam]

It seems to be in the air right now...I've never had a soft shelled egg from the girls...and in the last fortnight, 4 or 5. I increased their grit, cut down their treats...and fed their egg shells back to them. Today one shell was partially soft, but it appears to be getting better. Thank goodness!!

[dozey1]

It must be something in the air... Poor girlies.. It isn't very nice though is it..I picked Matilda up last night to put her to bed and she just splurged egg white every where...

[tillysmum]

We had our first soft shelled egg this week too--how odd that its happeneing everywhere! Our's was laid by Duckie (yes, she is a hen!) who has been very off colour, in fact to the point where I thought we would loose her, but she is right as rain now (gave her some natural yoghurt as the kind lady at Happychicks recommended). She laid it out in the open, not even in the house.