#MISSHAPEN CHICKEN EGGS FREE#

#MISSHAPEN CHICKEN EGGS FREE#

My nature causes me to be a little skeptical about using egg shells because of the law of diminishing returns but I have no statistics to back that up.Д«ecause chickens know what they are lacking dietarily, you can offer any of the above supplements in a free choice container. Crush the shells and offer them to your flock in a separate free choice container. Wash the shells and let them thoroughly dry or spread them on a cookie sheet and place in an oven at a low temperature until they are very dry and brittle. Some people prefer to supplement with egg shells. This is important because youвЂ™ll need to provide more limestone to get sufficient calcium retention. Limestone is more quickly digested and therefore 50 to 60 % retention of calcium can be expected. If fact, in areas where limestone is prevalent, limestone is much more commonly used than any other supplement. Limestone is another choice for calcium supplementation. Oyster shell is not terribly expensive and because of itвЂs size, it remains in the gizzard, slowly breaking down and providing a constant supply of calcium to the blood stream. My preference for providing calcium is through a free choice offering of crushed oyster shell. So the question is, вЂњHow do I get all that calcium into my chicken?вЂќ However, a hen that does not have a reserve of calcium will have brittle bones. If you are going to keep your hen for only a few seasons and then send her to the stew pot, these reserves are not as important. When a hen slows down or even temporarily stops producing eggs during her annual molt, the calcium reserves have an opportunity to be replenished. This calcium is taken in through the henвЂ™s diet.Д¬alcium is delivered to the shell gland via the blood stream, the intestine and from reserves stored in the medullary bone.ДЄ side note here weвЂ™ve talked recently about the pros and cons of allowing your hens a natural time of rest annually by not providing artificial light to lengthen their daylight hours in the fall / winter. In fact the shell gland must contain on average, 2.5g of elemental calcium to produce each egg shell. The point is that laying hens need a lot of calcium. One more quick statistic before your eyes start to glaze over and you begin to fall asleep calcium carbonate is 40% calcium. It is made up mostly of calcium carbonate, in fact 97% of the eggвЂ™s shell is calcium carbonate.

The shell is the last step in the eggвЂ™s formation, save only the protective coating called the bloom. I can only assume that their calcium intake is too low.

It sounds like your chickens are getting a great diet and that you take very good care of them. Michelle, we get questions like yours often so IвЂ™m glad you wrote. Any help welcomed please!вЂќ ~ Michelle Perrott They are moulting a little, but it hasnвЂ™t made any difference to the laying so far, unless this is the cause of the odd eggs. WeвЂ™ve had them since April and they are all good layers, we get three eggs a day. We give them a scatter of dried mealworms as a treat. They also get greens such as spinach, lettuce, carrot peelings and left over veg. They get mash morning and evening and a few handfuls of corn in the afternoon and have access to grit and water. TheyвЂ™re in the sac and rather jelly like! I thought it was just a blip, but weвЂ™re still finding them after 4 days, so would be glad to find out whatвЂ™s happening. вЂњOne of our three chickens has started laying eggs without a shell.

Misshapen chicken eggs