[Bev]

Hi, I have 3 chickens and I have had them since April 2009. One of them has been a bit prone to laying eggs with soft shells. This has not been much of a problem until she started to eat her eggs.

They do have lots of top quality grit and they free range 3-4 days a week. The vet said she may just be laying a few more eggs with soft shells at the moment because it is winter, hopefully her eggs will improve as we go into the spring. There are no signs of illness or runny discharge from nose or anything like that.

So far she is not eating the other hens eggs and I am taking them out as soon as I can once they are laid as much as possible.

I have heard of the trick of blowing an egg and filling it with mustard - yummy! Has any one got any other tricks for this?

Thanks for your help,

Bev

[DavidT]

Good evening Bev and welcome to the site.

[joyfull]

Hello and welcome. The grit is to help the chickens grind their food as they don't have teeth. To help with the soft shells you also need to have a pot of oystershell (make sure that it's oyster shell and not cockle shell) available all the time - this will slowly dissolve and release the calcium needed for stronger shells. If you want you can always wash and then bake and crush empty egg shells and feed this back to your girls - this is a very old fashioned method and the ultimate in recycling 
How old are your hens? Sometimes older girls start to lay thin shelled or shell less eggs and in that case a touch of limestone flour will help 

[Bev]

Hi,

Many thanks for your welcoming messages.

I checked my grit packet and it says it contains grit for breaking down the food and oyster shell and soluble calcium. I am keeping 2 tubs of it in places where Buffy the naughty chicken hangs out and I usually rattle it near her a couple of times a day to encourage her to eat it. I also feed them on layers mash, would this help? They free range about 4 days a week so must be getting some good grass and things now. Unfortunatley she has eaten her egg today, it had a soft ish shell but would have been ok I think if she had left it alone.

Thanks, Bev

[dizzylizzie]

Hi, i would be keeping a careful watch for her going in to lay. I know your grit says it has oyster shell, but i would buy oystershell as well and put that out. Also i have had a lot of success adding limestone flour to the pellets/or warm porrige(pellets made with hot  water to make a kind of porrige). Others have had good results to. You will find it in the horse section of your local feed store. You will need to watch her tho as she may start to eat the other eggs