[farmers wife]

Just wonder why this is happening half my 75 hens are laying but there are usually 3 eggs that have made a right mess in the laying box or if I pick up disintegrate in my fingers.


Seeing my hens have an excellent barn with loads of space and organic feed with kelp, veg scraps and bit of yogurt I cant see why the shells are so thin.


Any ideas?

[nutterly_uts]

Isn't it usually a sign of lack of calcium? Do they have oyster grit?

[Possum]

I find this happens more in the autumn/winter months. Mouting? Short days? 3 out of 75 isn't that bad. I can usually manage to pick them up (if I'm careful) and then feed them to the pigs. They love them!

[Hevxxx99]

Some diseases can cause thin shells: are they all bright and healthy?

Other than that, oyster shells!

[farmers wife]

Thanks, no issues, very healthy and happy no stress.


I would of thought the grit in the floor which is a mix of mud cleared from river banks, bark, tree branches and chipped wood would suffice but I have some oyster grit here so will put some in.


Yes there is some moult and obv shorter day - they get about 10 - 12hrs light with artificial.


I'm sure in the summer there wasnt any fragile shells.

[chrismahon]

Lack of sunlight causes a reduction in vitamin D production. This is an element used in the process of taking Calcium from storage in the bones and putting it around the egg. The way it used to be overcome was by adding Cod Liver Oil to the feed. Perhaps as an alternative method you could replace the artificial light with proper 'daylight' bulbs?


We are getting soft shelled eggs as well. We've put a 'cushion' under the perches made by a layer of wood shavings covered with newspaper and this has saved quite a few softies from splitting on impact with the floor. Our fear of course is the hens developing an egg eating habit from tucking into broken softies.

[Marches Farmer]

Grit from the floor will assist with grinding down the food in their crop.  The calcium content of what they pick up is unknown.

[Hevxxx99]

The grit that grinds up food and is probably the main part of what they pick up on the floor is insoluable: to get the calcium, they need soluable grit as well, which is usually oyster shell.  I'd guess the addition of lime to the diet would do the same thing. 

Most layers pellets contain some soluable grit, but in my experience, not enough for good tough shells like proper free range hens usually produce.

[CarolineR]

I find this happens more in the autumn/winter months. Mouting? Short days? 3 out of 75 isn't that bad. I can usually manage to pick them up (if I'm careful) and then feed them to the pigs. They love them!

Hi Possum! Just wanted to make sure you and everyone else knows, it's not legal to feed eggs to pigs in the UK.
I don't normally trawl the forum pointing things out like a legal pen-pusher, it's just we've a currently-suspected outbreak of bird flu up here in Scotland, and bird flu getting into pigs can turn into a potential human hazard in the rare cases that it happens (it can be the method by which a brand new, more serious, strain of flu arises in some cases) so I thought it worth pointing out just now so everyone can be aware why the rules are in place.
Apologies for butting in - it's my job to spread advice on infectious diseases!
Best wishes,
Caroline