Soft shelled eggs

Yes I know how they feel. I don't function so well in the heat, either.
They don't like anything unusual that upsets their routine, so I suppose it's possible they might slow down after suffering the offence to their dignity of being handled and dusted, however good for them this was!
 
Hi Dinosaw and Marigold
Thanks for the reassurance that there is nothing drastically wrong with my girls, however I have another worry about the bare bottoms on 4 of my hens. These are the ffenig black and the Mendlesham Rangers. My other two are Suusex Ffenigs and they are not affected. About 4 months a I changed their bedding from the straw I was using to UNIBED poultry and game bedding. This is finely chopped straw, dust extracted The straw is treated with disinfectant .Its anti bacterial antiviral and anti fungal. I change their bedding once a week and throw a handfull of Diatom into the new lot, Do you think that either the bedding or me adding the Diatom could be to blame. If not how long does it take for new feathers to grow back and is there anything else I can treat them with apart from the red mite powder that I use. They are looking raggedy at the moment.
 
Shouldn't be the bedding or diatom. They could be starting to moult of course but if it's only around the rear end then it tends to be feather pecking. If this is the cause then it is often due to a single hen who has got a taste for feathers or boredom/space issues.
 
HI Everybody,
Sorry I haven't been in touch recently (not been very well) Much better now. My egg production has gone down drastically since the end of September. Some days I might get 1 egg from 6 chickens other days nothing. I know that they were moulting from the amount of feathers on the ground and that started around the end of September. I would have thought that by now they should have been laying a bit better than they are. I think that the egg that I do get is from the same hen everytime. They are eating and drinking well. The hen that had the bare back and bottom is feathering up nicely.and the others are looking fine. Any idea as to when they might get back to laying properly. I never had this problem with my previous hens!
 
Hi EW, good to hear from you. I'm glad you and your flock are doing better now, after your illness and their moult. How old are they? Pullets in their first year usually stay in full lay throughout their first winter, without moulting at all, but older birds usually stop laying in Autumn before moulting, put all their energy into growing new plumage over the next few weeks, and then take a rest until after the Equinox. They seem to be very sensitive to even slight changes as the days begin to lengthen in January, and often begin laying well by the end of the month. So yours are perfectly normal, just be patient!
Because eggs are available all year round from young farmed hens, or flocks kept under electric light to stimulate lay, we tend to forget that eggs are mainly a seasonal food, and our garden hens do need a break at some point. Commercial hens have as many eggs as possible wrung out of them in their first 18-24 months, and are then all culled and replaced. Our pet hens will usually live longer and go on producing eggs for several years after that, at a more natural pace, especially the purebred types.
It's good to give a mineral boost during and after the moult, try Nettex mineral powder with probiotics and seaweed, to build up their reserves before the new season starts.
 
Good Morning Marigold,
Thanks for your quick reply. You have put my mind at rest about my girls. They are just under 2 years old and from memory this is their first what I would call a proper moult. I do mix something called Poultry spice which is a mineral supplement, in with their food every feed. I mix it up wth a little cod liver oil. I am still getting the odd soft shelled egg. I had one this morning the first for about 2 weeks. As you say I will just have to be patient.
 
Hi EW,
Just piping in to say cod liver oil is powerful stuff for vit D content. Its just one shot of a level teaspoon per bird once or twice in the winter months. I wish they sold smaller bottles - I have a bottle that's nearly 3 years old and its still nearly full so am wondering if its still OK! Strictly speaking, there should be enough vit D in layers pellets and if they are not laying then they should be getting more than enough already.

Down to one young laying hen now - having to save them up so we can have boiled eggs for breakfast at the weekend.
 
My girls appear to be getting back to business at the moment.

I think the brown eggs are from this years Croads, no blue eggs - usually 3, and the Leghorns are are not laying either, unusual for utilities, but they must be about 3 years old now.

BUT they are all eating their heads off, and looking good after their moult!!.
 
HI Everybody,
It looks like we are all in the same boat re the egg laying, but as Marigold said 'be patient'

PS One laid an egg for us this morning!! I haven't got a clue which one laid it, but I must be thankful for small mercies. They are starting to look very well, even the one which had the bare bottom is feathering up nicely, so hopefully it shouldn't be too long before they are in full production once again. Thanks to Rick re the advice re the cold liver oil. I was putting a little bit in every feed. From now on it will be just the Poultry Spice for them.
 
Yes, you have to be careful with CLO. An overdose will be bad for them, and also it'll make the eggs smell and taste fishy. I'm glad they're feathering up in this cold weather. My girls were laying quite well until two weeks ago, when it started to get really cold, but the older ones then suddenly stopped and now I'm just getting one a day each from the two pullets who were hatched earlier in the year. It's good when you get to the stage of having a flock of different ages, because then you can plan for a couple of youngsters in August- September to supply winter eggs that year, to replace those who may have gone to the Great Coop in the Sky.
 
We overdosed a Cream Legbar with CLO once- she improved dramatically after the first 5mL dose and went badly downhill after the second two days later. Now we stick to 0.5mL per Kg bodyweight no more than once a week, which has proved to be perfectly effective. They can't store excess vitamins I have read, so giving too much is, at the least, a waste. It's been used here for weak immune systems (hay fever, Myco, generally run down during the moult or in the dark of Winter) and soft shelled eggs. Vitamin D is required in the mechanism for taking Calcium from storage in the bones and moving it to the oviduct to go on the eggs. Another important component is Phosphorous and a Calcium/ Phosphorous imbalance is to be avoided, so extra Calcium in the form of supplements needs to contain extra Phosphorous as well. Vitamin D is naturally produced from a reaction with sunlight, but even here, that's in short supply over Winter.
 
Hi chrismahon,
Thanks for your input and everbody else who replied re CLO. I have stopped giving them this now. Regarding the Phosphorous and Calcium supplement, which is the best one to give. At present I mix Poultry Spice in with their pellets. I haven't looked to see what the ingredients are in this, but I will go ang have a look as soon as I have finished this. I'm glad I found the Forum. It has so many people able to help with various problems.
 
Nettex mineral powder contains Phosphorous, but Verm-X poultry zest pellets do not. Both have a different mix which we bought in an attempt to stop our pet cock Bottom eating lime plaster off the walls in the house. Eating soil and plaster are a sign of a mineral imbalance and we tried to correct it with limited success. The danger is (apart from losing our rental deposit) the indigestible sludge can block the digestive system.

If you look at the ingredients in your layers pellets EWR you will see both Phosphorous and Calcium listed and this should be in the correct ratio, although it would be worth cross-checking various manufacturers to see if their ratios differ perhaps.
 
Hi chrismahon,

Thanks for the tip about Nettex, Marigold also mentioned this product. Hope that you will be ok with this bird flu . My run is covered by a fine roof netting and the sides are made of chicken wire through which small birds could get through, but I haven't seen any going in there so far. I suppose that droppings could get through the roof netting. I don't really know what else I can do. The roof is too big to cover with tarpaulin. Good luck.
 
Good Morning Everybody

My next door neighbour who used to keep chickens until last week has given me a threequarter full bag of layers pellets with flubenvet included in them. Mine are due to be wormed this week but I am a bit concerned whether to use them or not. He said he got the pellets about thrre weeks ago. Any advise please.

Stanierman.
 
Strange, to buy a bag of premix and then suddenly decide to give up keeping them, unless he's making sure they're OK before rehoming them.
There will be a use-by date on the bag, so as long as they're within date and have been stored dry, they'll be OK.
The problem with premixed, unless you have very large numbers of hens, is that inevitably either some will be left over and wasted, or you won't have quite enough. Much easier to mix the right amount from powder and then just feed it to them until it's used up.
 
Hi Marigold,

Thanks for the quick reply and the advise. I know its been stored dry so no worries on that score. The best by date on the bag is 12/03/17. so there's about 3 weeks left on the 'life' of the pellets. Do I use these pellets the same as I do when I mix the flubenvet with the ordinary pellets? If it's ok to use them I will do so, and if I have to throw them away, they will not have cost me anything. My neighbour and his wife both work so they really don't have alot of time. He had the hens from a friend of his who also gave them up. Very strange. I enjoy looking after my 6 girls.

Stanierman
 
Just empty the feeder and refill with the treated pellets. Feed nothing else for 7 days - this is because, if given anything else, they will fill up on treats and not take in enough treated feed to do the job properly. The idea is that each bird will self-medicate with an appropriate amount of wormer for her size and appetite. If they've emptied the feeder before the week is up, you'll need to supplement with your usual pellets mixed with Flubenvet powder. You'll need a kilo for each bird, to get through the week. If you haven't got as much as that, be sure to get some fresh Flubenvet powder before you start, so their week's treatment isn't interrupted.
Its a good idea to always keep some flubenvet in stock for the next worming, as it sometimes goes off the market for weeks or months on end and then you can be stuck when you need it. This is another advantage of using powder rather than premix, as the powder has a long use-by date.
 
Hello again Marigold,

Thanks for the advise. I have got some flubenvet which I was going to use this week. There's a couple of treatments left in the bottle which I shall use for the next couple of treatments but for now I shall carry on with the treated pellets. Again thanks for everything.

Stanierman
 
Hi Everybody,

My girls have finally stopped laying so I have made the decision to take them to a lady who takes in 'retired' chickens. They will stay with me until next week. I shall miss them (until I get some new ones) The ones that I have now are 2 Mendlesham Rangers (friendly little things) 2 Ffenig Blacks and 2 Sussex Ffenigs At least thats what I was told they were. I was thinking of getting a different Hybrid type next time. Any suggestions for good layers? I was sorry to hear about Ricks misfortune with the Fox. I do get them in my garden but my girls don't take a blind bit of notice, probably because they are so used to my dog wandering round the cage, although I don't know what they would do if a fox made a concerted effort to get at them, so far no fox has tried to get in!!
 
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