[Flowerpower136]

Right, we've found out whose been laying all the soft shell eggs.... it's Wilma.  And you can see from previous post that things are getting serious and she's starting to suffer, so need to take action.

I've been advised to give her calcium tabs.  One whole one yesterday, half a one today, and then a quarter daily from then on and see what happens.

Tabs I've got are for human consumption from the chemist and include vitimin D (apparently we can't absorb calcium without it, so tabs come with it included).   Tabs contain 400mg calcium.

Anyone have any idea if this is the right sort of dose?   Seem to remember that too much calcium is bad for chucks?

[Aunt Sally]

400mg is less than half a gram. A hen needs 3 gms per day to make egg shells so a whole tablet would not overdose her.

Too much calcium is bad for them but if she has a shell problem she is probably not getting enough absorbed from her normal layers pellet diet.

[Flowerpower136]

Thanks for that Auntie.

In that case, I'll give her a whole tab a day and see how it goes.  I had been adding fine oyster shell to their afternoon mash and corn, but obviously not enough for her. 

It was awful to see her suffering,  I really thought I was going to loose her. Such a relief she picked up today.  I love them all to bits, but she is a bit of a favourite.  Normally she's so funny and cheeky, but not yesterday

Also, I'm switching back to ex batt pellets.  I started them off on these, and then, because they never seem to be in stock, I switched to normal layers pellets.  Now regretting that and will make the effort to order them in.

[grumpydad]

you can also get a liquid calcium that is added to the water, but this will dose all the chucks, or powdered limestone to add to feed.

[Flowerpower136]

thanks grumpydad.
Just got another tab down her crushed in some mash.  She now expects her own hand held dish of mash whilst the others join the scrum for the big bowl   don't they learn quick!

[Foxy]

Add a teaspoon of codliver oil to their pellets twice a week with a teaspoon of poultry spice. This will help the absorption of calcium.

[Flowerpower136]

Thanks for that tip Foxy.  I do use poultry spice, but will get them some codliver oil as well.