[baby tweedy]

Hi, I need help please. I have recently rescued 2 ex caged hens to keep my 2 bantams company, they were in poor condition- oven ready as you call it. One seems to have light coloured poop and is sloppy and the eggs are either very thin shells or no shell ( keep finding yoke in coop) I give them acv in the water and have wormed them with Flubenvet. The comb is pale on one of them but the feathers have come back really well. I have attached a pic of the poop - are they worms. Not what I was expecting if they are.  Thanks for your help (sorry about the poop pic)

[New shoot]

Hi and welcome.

Thin shelled eggs can be linked to a hen coming to the end of their laying life or bad diet.  Some hens also seem prone to it, but I would have thought caged birds would be dispatched fairly quickly if they kept laying them.

Hybrid layers are bred to produce eggs daily over a short life span, so the ex-batts you have will have much shorter life expectancy and laying life than your bantams.  Growing a whole new set of feathers also takes it out of a hen and could account for a lot.

They will have also been fed on layers pellets, so any change to their diet could upset their digestive systems.  It doesn't look like worms in their poop, but it could be undigested corn.  If you are feeding this, I would stop for a while.  All new foods need to be introduced gradually and they need access to grit so they can digest corn.  Layers pellets contain calcium that should help with the thin shells, but you could also offer oyster shell grit (as well as normal grit).

[baby tweedy]

Thanks new shoot, I have been giving them grit with oyster shell and chick crumb as their beaks had been cut down  I had given them corn so will stop, I did think it looked like corn. So maybe just stick to layers pellets and grit? Thanks again

[Debz]

I've got ex caged birds too and while they were quite well feathered, I have recently started getting quite a few soft shelled eggs.  I suspect they are about to have the most tremendous moult though so I'm feeding them layers mash, given them access to plenty of grit and they are getting fish versions of cat food two mornings a week to try and aid them through.  For hens that have spent most of their lives in very small cages, they have the most amazing personalities.  We've had ours since August.

[New shoot]

maybe just stick to layers pellets and grit?

I think that might be best for a while and then introduce them to the delights of being a back yard chuck with a varied diet bit by bit 

[grinling]

Please may I clarify that grit and oyster shell are 2 different supplements.
If free ranging on soil, they should find plenty of grit, they need it to grind down food.
Oyster shell is a form of calcium and should be provided, I use a cat dish as my run is concrete, but if soil a flower pot stuck down with a tent peg works. They need this for egg making but also need greens or access to grass to absorb.
Worse case scenario, the hens will eat egg shells as they are thin for the calcium.