One poorly hen and possibly another laying soft eggs

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Right,
I've been a chicken owner for all of 6 days now - here are my problems so far:

I read the post on sticky eyes and as one of mine has the same thing - both of her eyes was welded shut today, I have booked an appointement with the vet for first thing in the morning. Fingers crossed.

I also read about the soft shell eggs - I only have one that lays (Ithink) and she laid on days 1,2 and 3 but nothing on 5 and 6. However, when I cleaned out the coop this afternoon I found an intact inner only just atached to a paper-thin rubbery "shell" and possibly another yolk. I don't think this is my poorly hen as her comb is hardly even pink. let alone red, but the other one seems fine otherwise.

Any thoughts?

Liz
 
Hi Liz,
Congratulations on becoming a chicken keeper!

Sorry to hear you're having a few problems. Are your hens Ex batt, or did you buy point of lay hens?
When you first introduce hens to a new environment, it is not unusual for them to stop laying or even lay slightly odd eggs. This can be due to the upset of being moved etc and usually settles down in a couple of weeks.

It is very important that the hens have access to grit. This is valuable source of calcium and is essential for digestion and for egg shell formation. You can usually buy this from your feed supplier at fairly low cost.
If your hens are ex batt, they could well be in need of mineral supplements to help them regain feather growth and general health. Cod liver oil is quite good for that, but you can also buy mineral supplements which can be mixed with their food.

With a well balanced diet including some greens, the soft shelled egg problem should get better. One thing to watch for though is soft shells can encourage hens to eat their eggs - something you want to avoid. To prevent this habit, collect any eggs as soon as you can and remove the remains of broken or soft shelled eggs.

As for your girl with sticky eyes - this is always something which is difficult to give an opinion. Your sensible approach of taking her to the vet will hopefully resolve the problem and avoid spreading to your other hens.

I hope this is of some help. Good luck with your girls.
 
Hi Liz,

Good luck at the vet's with the sticky eye problem,should be easy to sort out.
With your other hen,re: soft shelled/no shelled eggs,when hens first start laying,when they're young,their eggs often pass through their system too quickly for the shell to form around them.As she did lay proper shelled eggs at first,I would add some liquid calcium to all their water.This is obtanable from pet shops,called calci-vet or something like that.
Do try and remove soft or none shelled eggs quickly,as Hippie Chick suggests,much better that none of your hens start eating eggs,it's a tricky habit to break.
A balanced diet,including fresh greens,layers pellets/mix/mash,grit and oyster shell she should soon be fine and laying normal eggs again.
 
Pellets/mash 'should' contain sufficient calcium - but if you add oystershell grit, they will take what they need.

It is fairly normal for hybrids / high producing strains to lay a few soft shells when they first come into lay.

Sometimes hens lay the odd soft egg. There's no immediate worry IMO unless it goes on for a while.

The vet should be able to check your chooks breathing for respiritory problems. As a natural approach, I use crushed fresh garlic in the water to help build up the immune system. ACV is also very good because amongst other things, it will cut through any mucus if it is respiratory related.
 
Thanks, Tim,

The vet said it was probably sinusitous - don't know how to spell that! -and gave me Tylan for the water and Maxitrol drops for her eyes.

I'm waiting for the feed merchants to open at 12pm so that I can get some grit, garlic and ACV. From what I've read on the forum, I give them ACV in the water for one week a month and put garlic in with their feed - is this right?

Thanks.
Liz
 
Hi Liz,

Yes, you can give ACV for a month or two to build it up and then most people give it one week per month. I usually give it for the first week of every month so that I remember.

You can add garlic to the water or to a mash mix - I put a couple of cloves in their food and tend to use the dried granules (available for horses) in the water from time to time because it's easier. The fresh IMO is the best though. If I have birds that I think need a boost, I'll crush fresh garlic into the water.

Tylan is an antibiotic used widely with poultry. It kills bacteria that make it past the immune system (and reproduce) causing disease. Often, once a disease weakens the bird, secondary infection strikes which can't be cleared by antibiotics - typically this could be a respiratory infection which chickens are very prone to catching.

The way I see it is if you keep the immune system strong, your chooks shouldn't get ill in the first place and things like Garlic / ACV will help them...

Tim
 
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