[alisonwo]

A couple of times in the past few weeks I have had soft eggs laid, just covered by a membrane (the dog loved them).  Can someone please offer definitive advice.  What supplements can I feed to help.  My girls are 3 warrens and one black rock, and don't know which girl is laying them.  They have free access to grit/oyster shell, and layers pellets, poultry spice every few days sprinkled on the food, and on cold mornings I make up a hot mash using either porridge or their own pellets.  They free range on about 50' x 34' lawned and dug garden.  One of the eggs was laid overnight whilst roosting, the other during the day.

[alisonwo]

Forgot to say the girls are about a year old now.

[8doubles]

If you can stop the hens free ranging for the first hour after let out it will make sure they fill up with pellets at least once before they start grazing.
I also add powdered clean eggshell (coffee grinder is good) to any porridge or mash plus cider vinegar in the drinking water to help them absorb the calcium.

[Flowerpower136]

I'm getting the odd one, so add a handful of fine oyster shell to their afternoon treat mix.

[Roughlee Handled]

If you can stop the hens free ranging for the first hour after let out it will make sure they fill up with pellets at least once before they start grazing.
..................

8doubles Chickens are a grazing type bird and do not "fill up" on feed.  They graze or continual feed. 

alisonwo have your chickens had there first moult yet? 
Your grit/oyster shell is it branded as a lot of pet shops sell cockle shell that is to big for chickens.

I also microwave (with a glass of water) egg shells, crush them and feed them back to the chickens.

[8doubles]

If you can stop the hens free ranging for the first hour after let out it will make sure they fill up with pellets at least once before they start grazing.
..................

8doubles Chickens are a grazing type bird and do not "fill up" on feed.  They graze or continual feed. 

alisonwo have your chickens had there first moult yet? 
Your grit/oyster shell is it branded as a lot of pet shops sell cockle shell that is to big for chickens.




I also microwave (with a glass of water) egg shells, crush them and feed them back to the chickens.

Mine do , and they have crops to do it with. Are yours different ? 

[Roughlee Handled]

.............
Mine do , and they have crops to do it with. Are yours different ? 

Obviously lost on you 8doubles.

If you want to believe that what your doing is correct the go ahead. 

[8doubles]

Obviously lost on you 8doubles.

If you want to believe that what your doing is correct the go ahead. 




So you still maintain that chickens do not `fill up' given the opportunity ?

I wonder what the crop is for and why it  gets big and after a rest and a preen it gets smaller.

Please explain why i am wrong if only for the good of my hens.

Always willing to learn.

[Roughlee Handled]

...........
I wonder what the crop is for ..........Always willing to learn.

You have heard of the expression "as rare as hens teeth"?
Hens/chickens do not have any teeth, so how does a chicken break down its food before it moves on to the stomach?
The crop is for breaking down the food (replacement for  teeth".  The food is broken down by being ground by grit, that is why chickens must always have grit available.

Chickens must have access to feed Layers pellets or mash all day. Chickens can not live on a morning or evening feed. 

[Vember]

My chickens free range and I have layers down all day for them

They need feed down all day because as Ruff says they are grazers and pick at stuff all day


Keeping them confined just for an hour in the morning isn't going to make that much difference to the shells in my opinion

I think to make a difference to shells you would have to confined them to a run more than an hour


Sarah

[goosebusters75]

Our hens free range also. We were finding that they were not interested in the pellets if they were allowed to free range from the moment they woke. As a comprimise, our hens are kept in the run with only pellets and water available, so when they are at their most hungry(i.e in the morning) they eat the pellets. This ensures that that have eaten enough layers pellets to keep them healthy as the pellets are a compleat food and contain all the nutrients needed to keep them healthy. When they are let out of the run, they all have a full crop, but still continue to graze in the garden. The bugs, grass, vegtables,mice and frogs that they find are all good for them, and the greens they eat are what gives the yolk that lovely colour, BUT they must have the pellets available to them all day.As the others have said, they also need grit to help them break down the food in the crop, but mine tend to get the grit they need from the garden and the grit that is available to them all day appears to stay untouched.I will how ever scatter that around the ground in small quantaties, just in case, but along with the grit, we also make sur they havepoultry grade oyster shell available, this is what helps to keep the shells hard. One of my ex-bats was tired out, and laying wrinkled and soft shells, so we have started to offer her a grape with a bit of limestone powder to give her a bit of a calcium boost.

[8doubles]

...........
I wonder what the crop is for ..........Always willing to learn.

You have heard of the expression "as rare as hens teeth"?
Hens/chickens do not have any teeth, so how does a chicken break down its food before it moves on to the stomach?
The crop is for breaking down the food (replacement for  teeth".  The food is broken down by being ground by grit, that is why chickens must always have grit available.

Chickens must have access to feed Layers pellets or mash all day. Chickens can not live on a morning or evening feed. 

I always thought that the breaking down of food happened in the muscular gizzard where the grit is used to grind it down. I thought the crop was just a thin skin bag for storage not capable of grinding down food. Shame on me , i`ve processed enough poultry and game over the years and should know where the grit ends up.

I agree that they should have access to pellets or mash all day , its just that some hens would rather eat grass all day and if they do not get enough pellets the eggs may suffer from thin shells.That is why i like mine to have a `fill up ' for breakfast before they free range.

[alisonwo]

Interesting opinions, will have a go at keeping them in the coop run where the pellets and water is for an hour or so before I let them out into the garden.  Have bought some cod liver oil and limestone flour and mixed this into the morning mash as well.  These girls have not had their first moult by the way although the odd feather is flying around so perhaps they are starting now.  Today had 4 nice solid shell eggs, could a scare perhaps cause a soft egg, as the dog does occasionally charge into their part of the garden and this had happened the day before when the dog demolished what was left of their morning mash.  POL dog! now there's a novelty. :blink: alison

[Bigblacktaximan]

I nearly said,

Buy their back catalogue, maybe we can get them back in the charts    (they could probably do with the royalties  )

[raeburg]

You could add some limestone flour into their food - available from horesy stuff feed merchants - as a calcium suplement.  i mix it in so that it coats the pellets.  Also occassionally I give them some porridge with cod liver oil (vitamin d) as this helps with absorption of calcium.  Don't over do it as it can damage their kidneys.