1)Shell less egg? 2)Can I feed grass mowings?

[Eco-Chic]

1) When I poo picked this morning 3 or 4 large poos looked as if they had egg yolk on. Would this be how shell less eggs present? None of the girls look unwell.

Chooks are POL and I've had two eggs to date. There is a dish of oyster shell available in the coop ad lib.

2) I got rid of the grass in my garden years ago but I mowed a client's garden this afternoon and brought home the mowings. I did two passes so the short clippings are on the top of the bag Will it be ok to offer some of it to the chooks? If so, should I put it in a hanger or scatter it in the run?

[Dashy]

Hi Eco chic, I bought a book called keeping chickens and it says they just love freshly mown grass. I throw mine in as their run is all dirt. Not sure about the yolk sorry.

[Janna]

They will love some grass mowings, but make sure never to give them long grass as there is a slight risk it could cause impacted crop. Also give a little at a time so it doesn't have a chance to go off and ferment.
The egg yolk is more odd, were the poos close together? It would be very unlikely for all of your hens to lay shelless eggs at once. Is there any chance it could have been a rat burglar?

[Eco-Chic]

Thanks Dashy and Janna re the grass. I've read all about Tick's Omlet and her impacted crop so I doubled passed the mower to make sure I had short clippings for the chooks if it is okay for them

Janna, sorry I wasn't clear. I don't suspect all the chooks of laying shell-less eggs. I think there were 3 or 4 poos (hopefully from one girl) with the apparently 'yolky' poo, but they do like to play sh*t football in the roost so it was here, there and everywhere. I've never seen a shell-less egg so I wondered if this was likely to be what I was looking at

[Suechooks]

Eco - when my girls do a shell-less egg there is usually at least the membrane left as well as traces of yolk. Sometimes the whole egg is there intact. However they could easily eat the membrane so it may have been a "softie". One of my youngsters produced one the other day. It's also possible the noise from fireworks has triggered one. I think my Amber link did one overnight on Bonfire night as there was a membrane in the hut that morning and she didn't lay that day despite going into the nest box in the afternoon.

[Eco-Chic]

Sue I'm not worrying overly. Firstly I don't think two of them have laid yet so it could be a 'novice' body thing. Secondly, not only did the poor chooks tolerate next door neighbours fireworks party, they also contended with my 3 dogs running down barking at the fireworks to go away and then congratulating themselves on having won the battle

I have come to the conclusion those chooks are almost bomb proof

[Suechooks]

I think you're right! Unless they have problems laying the soft shells there's nowt to worry about and the novice layers don't usually have probs it's the ex-batts I get concered for. Laying soft /shell-less eggs hasn't triggered egg eating in any of mine either. Have you got a iccy of your blue Orp bantams? They sound delightful.

[Eco-Chic]

They are gorgeous. Quite possibly the most beautiful chooks in the world

I need to find the downloading thingwee to the camera and then I'll post some pix. Will be a couple of days because an insect bit me eyebrow yesterday afternoon and my eye is mostly closed shut at the moment

[Suechooks]

Ooooooh OW! Hope it gets better soon.

[Flummery]

Are you sure they weren't just 'caecal' poos. Part of the caecum is shed sometimes and it looks yellowish, on top of an ordinary poo. These are quite evilly smelly but are perfectly normal. I once read that one in eight poos can be caecal but mine seem to do them more erratically.

PS not sure which bit of the insides constitutes the caecum. I read a lot. I don't always totally understand it!

[Eco-Chic]

Flummery, you've described them exactly, except they didn't stink. They're just a little bit larger than the usual poos.

As I say, the girls seem to be in good heart, so I'm not worried, more curious. I'll look up caecal wotsit in one of my books tonight.

I looked at 2 of their vents today What with all this vent gazing and poo scrutinising, I fear this enslavement by chooks is turning me into some sort of perv

[MaureenHall]

This link has been posted a few times before, but it's handy for the newbies
4. Poo - The Chicken Keeper's Guide - Allotment and Vegetable Gardening it's pictures of poo!!!

[Eco-Chic]

Thanks Maureen, I thought I'd bookmarked that previously but hadn't done it properly. I have now, and I do think it is caecal poo and as it has been left in the roost it is probably an early morning dump which also explains the size being bigger than usual.

[RichmondHens]

With the shorter days the birds are spending more time inside and so poo more inside the house. Therefore you will start to see a wider variety of poo than you did earlier in the year. During the summer months generally only the "normal" poos are deposited overnight with the birds getting rid of their caecal poos once they are outside. It makes cleaning out in winter a rather more arduous task. I generally find they need mucking out at least twice as often during winter.

[frias]

Had 3 softies laid in the night and I'm blaming the fireworks. There's loads going off at the moment too, so guess it's more softies again tomorrow. Eco-Chick you can't possibly have the most beautiful chooks in the world 'cos I have. (OK, we all have the most beautiful chooks in the world.)
I don't get many grass mowings as not much grass left but do remember from horsey days I was told only fresh mowings and not from petrol mowers.