My chickens don’t like grit or oyster shell?

[Ridgerunner]

Mine don't seem to like the oyster shells either, but love the egg shells. The problem is, I don't have enough egg shells for them all the time. I sell some of the eggs and am hesitant to ask people to save shells for me. Some use them in their own gardens.

How are your eggshells in general. If they are hard enough they are getting enough calcium from some source. If all of the are thin then you have a problem. If they are getting enough calcium they should not eat it to excess.

I'm going to try adding some oyster shells to their fermented feed. We also have a hen that lays eggs with no shell. Don't know which one, but it is consistent. There may be another problem with that one hen since all her eggs have no shells.??

If the other eggshells are OK then you do not have a flockwide problem, you have an individual hen problem. There is something wrong with her shell gland where she does not deposit enough to make eggshells, there is something wrong with her internal digestive system so her body does not process calcium correctly, or something is wrong with her instincts so she does not eat enough calcium when it is offered. Personally I would not cram so much calcium down the throats of the other hens where I risk causing them medical problems to treat a hen that has something wrong with her to start with.

If it is just the one hen then I'd try to identify her and feed her calcium pills as mentioned in another post above.

 

[SchusterChickens]

How are your eggshells in general. If they are hard enough they are getting enough calcium from some source. If all of the are thin then you have a problem. If they are getting enough calcium they should not eat it to excess.


If the other eggshells are OK then you do not have a flockwide problem, you have an individual hen problem. There is something wrong with her shell gland where she does not deposit enough to make eggshells, there is something wrong with her internal digestive system so her body does not process calcium correctly, or something is wrong with her instincts so she does not eat enough calcium when it is offered. Personally I would not cram so much calcium down the throats of the other hens where I risk causing them medical problems to treat a hen that has something wrong with her to start with.

If it is just the one hen then I'd try to identify her and feed her calcium pills as mentioned in another post above.

Makes sense. I don't know how to figure out which hen is laying the eggs without shells. We have 19 hens. We have a camera in the coop, but can't really tell the hens apart. We have colored rings around most of their legs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Divide them into groups according to the colored rings. Just keep good notes. Put food coloring in their vent, a different color for each group. If you see colored streaks on that egg you know which group. Divide them up and do it again. This link might help.

Who is laying what egg? - YouTube