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Hey.... Lets keep Chickens..!
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Hi,
One of my 3 chickens keeps laying soft shelled eggs (that makes a mess of the hen house). Unfortunately I don't know which one it is. They all seem perfectly happy, they look fine and they are all behaving normally.
It has been happening for a couple of weeks now. I have looked into it a bit on the web and most people seem to suggest that there is probably no problem and that one of them might have had a fright (not sure what though as none of them seem spooked or agitated) and that everything should return to normal.
They do get plenty of grit as they are proper free range girls (have access to the whole garden all day) and have access to lots of natural grit in the dirt. However I have also started adding mixed grit to their food too just in case.
Just starting to worry a bit now as it has been two weeks (maybe a little more).
Can anyone give me any suggestions/advice?I enjoy a pint of beer each night for it's health benefits. The other pints are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves.0 -
Hi, not posted for a while but been reading all about you and your hens!!
Just been to pick up 6 ex-batts to go with the 7 I already have. Not much room left in there now but at least they will all be cosy at night! A bit worried about all this talk of keeping them separate, I have put them all in together, thought the new ones would learn more quickly from the older ones. Will let you know how my sink or swim approach works!!
Got my hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust and they ask for a donation of £3/4 each but the hens are very healthy looking considering their previous life, they can all walk properly and have all their feathers.
Happy Hen Keeping!0 -
My OH decided today that it was time to take mix my two oldies with my six ex batts that I got end of august. With trepidation, I put my two oldies into the ex batts run (which was originally theirs) and let out the ex batts. It looks as though the weeks staring at each other through a wire fence has paid off as my 2 oldies just put in a small amount of work to establish their seniority before all 8 hens settled down. Am fairly gobsmacked it went so well. Hovered near the back door in wellies for a while before I realised there would be no major ding-dongs and am soooo relieved.
OH did also suggest putting little baldy in with the others but have drawn the line there. After her sleeping 3 weeks under the henhouse and spending all day there, I don't think she would fit in again despite a change in pecking order. She seems quite happy in her new run and sleeps in a little rabbit hide house.
Oddly enough, little baldy is now fully feathered and a beautiful little hen - checked out my original photos of her from when I first got them and can hardly believe it. Yet some of my other ex batts are quite patchy and the one that was next worst to little baldy still is a bit 'bum fluffy' rather than feathered up. Wonder if it was cold nights under the house that encouraged little baldys feathers to come through quickly?
Will need to keep an eye on my two oldies as they have got a horrible egg-pecking habit. Will be taking down the separator in my run tomorrow so they all get a bit more space.
Hope everyone elses are doing well.Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed.
If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'
Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:0 -
edmund_blackadder wrote: »Hi,
One of my 3 chickens keeps laying soft shelled eggs (that makes a mess of the hen house). Unfortunately I don't know which one it is. They all seem perfectly happy, they look fine and they are all behaving normally.
It has been happening for a couple of weeks now. I have looked into it a bit on the web and most people seem to suggest that there is probably no problem and that one of them might have had a fright (not sure what though as none of them seem spooked or agitated) and that everything should return to normal.
They do get plenty of grit as they are proper free range girls (have access to the whole garden all day) and have access to lots of natural grit in the dirt. However I have also started adding mixed grit to their food too just in case.
Just starting to worry a bit now as it has been two weeks (maybe a little more).
Can anyone give me any suggestions/advice?
I have now identified which chicken it is that is continually laying the soft broken eggs. She keeps taking herself off on her own and isn't as interested in everything as usual. She does still appear to be eating though.
They are just over a year old. Anyone with any advice? Is this normal?I enjoy a pint of beer each night for it's health benefits. The other pints are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves.0 -
Just keep encouraging her to get enough calcium, Edmund. I rinse, dry and crush the eggshells into the food for my lot as well as give them access to extra grit whilst they freerange but we do, occasionally, still get a soft shelled egg. As long as hen looks and acts healthy and she's not distressed about laying or looking mucky about her back end, she should be fine. The eggs, if you can get them before they break, are still ok for eating and BRILLIANT for playing tricks on people.I reserve the right not to spend.
The less I spend, the more I can afford.
Frugal living challenge - living on little in 2025 while frugalling towards retirement.0 -
Can I ask advice about feeding my 2 hens which I have had for 6 weeks. They have their layer pellets and love a handful of corn as a treat, but turn their beaks up at any of the other things which have been suggested, including brocolli, tinned sweetcorn, bread crusts, cooked pasta. I wasn't bothered about this till I read that they need vegetables to stay healthy - surely I don't need to start worrying about the hens 5 a day as well as the kids!!
They are in their run during the day, and free range for a couple of hours when I get back from work, and all day at the weekend0 -
Just keep encouraging her to get enough calcium, Edmund. I rinse, dry and crush the eggshells into the food for my lot as well as give them access to extra grit whilst they freerange but we do, occasionally, still get a soft shelled egg. As long as hen looks and acts healthy and she's not distressed about laying or looking mucky about her back end, she should be fine. The eggs, if you can get them before they break, are still ok for eating and BRILLIANT for playing tricks on people.
She doesn't appear to be particularly distressed as such but she seems a bit more subdued than normal and she was mucky at the back end yesterday! ... she had shell hanging out! (Wasn't sure if i was supposed to help remove it or not!?).
I did speak to the vet and tell her that too but she didn't sound too concerned about it and told me that this is sometimes common behaviour when hens are about to exit their laying season.
I don't want to take her to the vets and waste time and money if this is just something that will pass on it's own etc but I also don't want to ignore it and have her unnecessarily suffer.I enjoy a pint of beer each night for it's health benefits. The other pints are for my witty comebacks and flawless dance moves.0 -
Can I ask advice about feeding my 2 hens which I have had for 6 weeks. They have their layer pellets and love a handful of corn as a treat, but turn their beaks up at any of the other things which have been suggested, including brocolli, tinned sweetcorn, bread crusts, cooked pasta. I wasn't bothered about this till I read that they need vegetables to stay healthy - surely I don't need to start worrying about the hens 5 a day as well as the kids!!
They are in their run during the day, and free range for a couple of hours when I get back from work, and all day at the weekend
As far as I know the layers pellets gives them everything they need. Veg is a treat. Saying that mine love spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes but I don't give them treats every day. Mine freerange about the same time as yours and they pick up lots of green stuff when out freeranging :beer:0 -
Hi All, new hens seem to be settling in ok, they just don't know how to go in the coop at night so I have to assist them to walk up the ramp and shove them through the pop-hole! The first night one must have escaped when my back was turned and spent all night outside - the temperature was -2 but it seemed to survive ok. They have had their first taste of rain today, their feathers are obviously lacking oil as they were soaked compared to the oldies, hope this gets better soon as living in the west of scotland requires all the waterproofing you can get!
The oldies are getting a bit narky at being kept in the run all day and not free ranging as they usually do but I can't risk letting the new ones out at the moment and being ex-batts they have no idea about life!!0 -
edmund_blackadder wrote: »She doesn't appear to be particularly distressed as such but she seems a bit more subdued than normal and she was mucky at the back end yesterday! ... she had shell hanging out! (Wasn't sure if i was supposed to help remove it or not!?).
Hi Edmund,
One of my 4 hens lays a very soft-shelled (or barely-there shell) egg frequently in the coop (as if she's sleep-laying!), she doesn't lay any other eggs these days (I've only had the hens since Aug), although she used to lay a good one about once a week. Often even the better-shelled eggs would be really soft/broken at the pointy end.
She sometimes looks a bit subdued, as if she might be egg-bound, but she has generally perked up by the morning (presumably after getting rid of the soft egg). They are all free-ranging, with additional pots of grit and oystershell, so I reckon she's probably just coming to the end of her laying days.
The other 3 are all laying fine though - one laid an absolute whopper last week, I'll need to take a photo before I eat it!!0
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