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Thin & brittle shells

Mon, Jul 18 2011 02:30pm BST 1
Henpecked
Henpecked
1 Posts
My 4 Warrens all lay regularly and their eggs taste fine, but their shells are all quite thin and brittle. They have access to 2 bowls of grit and roam free in our garden of about 1/4 acre. I would be grateful for any ideas on how their egg shells could be improved
Mon, Jul 18 2011 06:02pm BST 2
DM Poultry
DM Poultry
56 Posts
I have had problems with mine in the past. I never fed mine grit but i have found cuttle fish you find dried up on the beech, if you crunch these into pounder this will improve shell quiality. If you put a handful in with their food it will give the birds much needed calcium to help develop healthy strong shelled eggs.
Tue, Jul 19 2011 03:09am BST 3
RED HEAD
RED HEAD
5 Posts
Hi! henpecked & DM poultry. (1) henpecked,1/4 acre is a large area & pending on soil grade your girls my not be getting enought grit as they scrach &forage. supply MORE grit to thier feeder mixed with thier feed.like wheat scatter handfuls across a wide area also remember wild birds like grit as well & could be sealing the grit from your girls. more is always better than very little.also sometimes when the egg is forming it forms with less shell at the pointed end as it leaves her virgina i had this problem just yesturday & i give them heaps of grit.sometimes it just happens but if it is allways happening then it could be calium issues that a vet may need to address. DM poultry. (2). before i came to this wonderful site i read a post on another site about the same issue as yours.i researched the "CUTTLE FISH" grit to find it is NOT suitable for chickens AND can harm them as in raking thier gut, couseing internel bleeding. for the small cost of "SHELL GRIT"from the pet shop/fodder shop.it would be safer to buy "SHELL" grit. cuttle is too course & is like feeding your pets cooked chicken bones that splinter.

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