Squishy egg shells

[Anonymous]

Hi

Our hens are now producing eggs regularly but the last few shells have been slightly squishy (brittle but will dent when pressed) I have a seperate dish of oystershell on offer, it is obvious they are not taking enough.
It is very coarse should I pound it up a bit in the pestle and mortar? Should I mix it with their pellets? Are they getting too much of a good thing browsing the garden all day?

Can we still eat these eggs?

Thanks

Alison W

 

[Tim]

Hi Alison,

Sounds like they have enough calcium from the oystershell and free ranging. The stuff I have does look a bit big too and my chickens hardly touch it. I mix it with flint grit (for digestion) but since my girls free range they hardly touch it and I only top it up every 6 months or so.

Sometimes you will get softer egg shells, usually with hybrids that lay zillions of eggs. I guess we're pushing the boundaries here... 80 years ago, the most eggs you could get from a chicken was about 150 per year and ducks were seen as the answer for eggs laying 200 or so eggs... now we have hybrids that can lay 320 eggs per year it's little surprise their bodies are struggling to keep up with production!

It can be dietary deficiency and older hens lay thinner shelled eggs but at the moment my guess is it's nothing to worry about, see how things go though.

The eggs can be eaten - just use them straight away, they may not keep with a softer shell.

Tim