Chickens laying soft eggs? - help!

heidimax

Hi - i am wondering if anybody out there can help me?
Last week my three chickens started laying soft eggs. They had access to oyster shell grit and sand (but maybe the oyster shells were too big for them) so i then got mixed chicken grit from a farm supply shop and even mixed it in with their food. I read in a book to give them yoghurt so i did that too. The soft eggs continued so last saturday (just gone ) i got some calcium powder from a farm shop - it says it's for greyhounds on the tub but they said it was suitable for chickens too. This seems to have sorted two of the chickens out and their eggs now have shells. I nearly lost the third chicken on sunday morning but thankfully i got the vet on time and she seems to be on the mend. (Cost me a fortune, it being a bank hol but she's worth it:)). She had a temperature and possible peritonitis (a soft egg burst inside her) so he gave her injections and she's on antibiotics for the next week. I am still lacing her layers pellets with calcium but she is still laying soft eggs....is there anything else i can do for her or do i just have to wait for the calcium to take effect? (i am worried another egg will burst inside her)(the farm shop also gave me lime flour but i haven't started using that yet). Or is there maybe any other product that may be worth using? (I also know you can bake eggshells and give them back to the chickens to eat - is this any better than the calcium powder?).

These are my first chickens and i only have them about 3 weeks. Also, if it makes any difference they are ex-battery ones (i know some people don't agree with this), but they're great and have all their own little "personalities":D and it's wonderful to watch them come out of themselves and adapt to their new environment. Thanks for any advice!

The Sweeper

Chickens can suffer a lot from stress. You've taken these chickens from a battery environment; two are thriving, one is not. It's a massive change for them. The one who's not thriving, there's really not much more you can do for her than what you've already done.

In terms of food, she'll use the shell grit to 'digest' the food in her stomach and to contribute calcium, she'll get more from the oyster shells (keep using that) and when her general well being balances up, hopefully she'll start having eggs with shells.

Don't give eggshells to your chooks - they get used to it and they can peck at their own eggs and break the shells and you'll be hard pressed to ever get an unbroken egg from your chickens.

There's no 'quick fix' for battery hens. You're experiencing precisely what you were told about originally on these forums regarding battery hens - some never rally, some come good and then go downhill, they seem to have shorter lives even when they do recover and learn to be chickens again and some carry illnesses for the entirety of their short lives. I've yet to see a battery hen live as long and healthy a life as a free range chook - the violence, claustraphobia and trauma of battery farming is too extreme in the developmental stage of their lives. It comes with the territory with battery chickens.

Seriously though, you sound like you really have done all you can. The only other thing I can think of it you could try giving them some 'treats' to see if your chicken will feel better about life - leafy greens like kale and pak choi, or a full corn on the cob. Other than that, just make sure her nest box is warm and her water is clean and there aren't too many stressors around her (don't go cutting the grass near the chook pen with a loud petrol mower any time soon, for instance).

heidimax

Thanks The Sweeper for the advice. Thankfully the hen seems to have rallied and is doing way better - back bossing the other two about as she had been doing. She didn't lay today but the vet suggested i throw some calcium over some seeds and throw them out over the grass which seems to have sparked her interest. Looking back on it, i think the problem might have arisen cause the chickens were literally eating grass all day and ignoring their pellets! Thanks for the tip on the eggshells - that makes sense so i'll abandon that idea. One of the chickens is really small and i had to laugh today when i saw her flapping her wings like mad in my (very big!) tom cats face - he actually ran away from her!:). I know you probably don't agree overall, but i'm happy i at least gave three hens a little taste of freedom and happiness, so even if they don't live too long,i hope they will have had some enjoyment. Thanks for the advice though, i really do appreciate it as i would hate to see any animal suffer, and in the short bit of time i have had the three hens, i have gotten quite attached to them

The Sweeper

Hehe I've no problem with people rescuing battery hens. I just don't like people paying for them - I see it as the same as buying a puppy from a puppy farmer so that you rescue the puppy from that environment. You've still rewarded the intensively-farming asshole behind the industry, which simply encourages him to continue.

But there are always two sides to any animal welfare debate - the bigger picture, and the smaller picture involving the rescuer and the individual animal to which they've committed. I know well enough to know that once you've made eye contact with some poor creature and that little switch in your head goes 'click' (and I dread that noise), no amount of bigger picture or common good arguments will make a difference, you're in it and you're rescuing that animal, no matter what!

I do wish you luck with them - I think chickens are great, and I think it's hilarious that they're standing up to your cat.

heidimax

Hiya,
Yes i wholeheartedly agree with you and no, i didn't pay for my chickens. My little dog too, i got from an animal welfare society following a SPCA raid. But you are so right, you set eyes on some misfortunate creature and they have a way of creeping into your heart . I am an avid supporter of CIWF (comapssion in world farming) who lobby for the ethical treatment of animals including the ban on battery farming which i think is coming in 2012?....i could have that wrong though!
Anyways, you seem to be really knowledgeable about chickens so i'll pick your brains again if you don't mind.
Before my hen got sick with the peritonitis she had established herself as the head chuck and the three hens rarely seemed to squabble - certainly nothing serious. However, since she has recovered (well,nearly), she is picking on the littlest hen. Actually i have seen both the other (much bigger hens) trap her in a corner and peck at her....her neck was all bleeding when i got home form work yesterday and she had blood on her feathers too. Even if she goes into the nesting area, the other hen will follow her in and peck at her. I have had to separate them today cause they were at it again.......should i just leave them at it to sort it out for themselves or can i do anything else to help? (my worry is just that the little hen is getting hurt - she has little or no feathers on her neck as it is, so she seems an easy target!)....thanks in advance for your thoughts - i appreciate the advice
PS - i must try them with corn on the cob but can i ask a stupid question - i assume they eat it raw?!?

The Sweeper

First, yeah they eat corn on the cob raw.

Second, with the bullying - that's that origin of 'henpecked'!! I've only had this once before myself, in a flock of six. I was going to try separating them for a while, but instead I started overfeeding them. With no competition for food, because there was so much of it, the aggression eased off. The littlest chook got her weight up and a lot of her feathers back and the others lost interest in bullying her. It wasn't an ideal solution of course, because the local birds all started to invade our chicken pen to raid the extra food (and birds will form habits in terms of coming back again and again).

You could try using a piece of flexible chicken wire on two timber stakes to cordon off areas where she can be right beside the other chickens without being savaged by them, and then just feed her up and let her get well. Chickens seem to be worse when they sense that one among them is a bit poorly - small, scraggly, bald in places. They really go for that one chicken. Bringing it up to 'defensive weight' was the only thing I could think of, but it worked. (Takes a few weeks though!)

heidimax

Great, thanks a mill for that.....you described my poor little chicken to a "T"!....it's funny cause she can stand up no prob to the tom cat who is easily twice her size but she's getting very badly picked on by the other hens....small, scrawny, bald in patches is so true!! Yes, i think i'll have to set up more feeding stations (thankfully i have no problem (yet!) with wild birds). I noticed that when i got home from work and let the chucks out for a proper run-around the poor little thing was starving .... i've seen the other two pecking her if she goes near the food and it seems that when she's "upstairs" in the coop, they're "downstairs" and vice versa!!.....i feel so sorry for her:( - maybe i'll get her a corn on the cob all for herself to cheer her up!! Seriously though, you're right, she's probably a bit underweight so i'll try and fatten her up so she can stand up for herself. I was even thinking today of getting another chicken to "balance things up" but maybe i'd only end up with three chickens picking on her then instead of two?!. You're so good for all the advice...thanks again:)