I thought I'd post an update. It's been 139 days since Pip laid her first lash egg. There have been no more since I posted in April. I don't know if Pip is laying. I have occasionally seen her on one of the nests, but when I go back, she's off and there's no egg.
I don't know that she is not...
Pip has laid another membrane-only egg, and it's a big one. And another lash egg, bigger than the first. I didn't take pictures. Button, another one of the pullets, really likes to eat eggs when she finds a broken one, and I had to get it out of there intact.
I'll be starting another round of...
Thanks for the warning. I will be looking for a lot more information than just one site's recommendation. They didn't even give a dosage.
One of the studies (from the 40s? have to look again) talked about a .3 mg dose. The tablets for dogs varied from .1 to .8 and that seemed like a really wide...
I've been looking into thyroxine as a treatment for thin/soft shells, based on this website:
https://www.hightoppoultry.com/why-chickens-laying-thin-shell-eggs/
and this comment:
Thyroid dysfunction
Thyroid dysfunction in chickens will seriously affect the absorption and utilization of calcium...
Well... I wonder if I gave her too many blueberries with calcium. Not because of egg issues, but two days ago, she was not interested in them. At all. Or her green pill (the lotus leaf extract).
I had been giving her 500 - 600 mg calcium citrate plus D. Estimate due to cutting the pills and...
Getting the calcium pills into Pip has led to some inventiveness. The "pull down on the wattles and pop the pill in her beak" might work if I had help, or if I took her off the roost at night.
Help isn't going to be available. Taking her off the roost at night would be a struggle, as she...
Every morning at open, I check for an overnight dropped egg in the area where Pip roosts. I found this today:
It was frozen, so Pip laid this sometime late last night. (Low of 18 this morning.) The shell of the egg seemed to be good, but a little thin. I don't know if it cracked when she laid...
Sadly, since salpingitis usually recurs, I'm betting I'll be giving lotus leaf more of a trial in the future.
This is the stuff I ordered:
https://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Leaf-Certified-Organic-Capsules/dp/B076JSGRZ4
3 pack (300 pills, total) for $42.69, plus shipping.
I'm just following up on this, and want to document the rest of this story. I'm looking into alternate treatments, should I run out of amoxicillin and have no way to get more.
After the 10 days of amoxicillin, I followed up with 7 days of lotus leaf extract (LLE). I read this study...
Well.... Maybe she's not totally fine. I'll be giving her calcium again for the next few days. I saw her munching egg shell this afternoon. Late today, she laid this 93 (!) gram softshell egg. The green on the membrane/shell tells me it's Pip's egg. I found it in the nest box at lock up, so she...
Pip seems to be totally fine now. I don't think she's laid an egg since this happened, but I don't know for certain.
Thanks to everyone who gave advice and responded.
I tried the peanut butter on a calcium pill today for Pip. I cut the pill into 4 pieces (well, 3 pieces, 3 little bits, and some dust). I put a bit of PB on 2 of the pieces and offered 1 to Pip. She took it, ran off, dropped it, picked it up, ran off, dropped it, stared at it, and then picked it...
A couple of the almost 4 year olds are starting back up, so it could easily have been one of them.
I've been out to the coop more often than before, about every 60-90 minutes. So far, I have not seen Pip on either nest.
She was never a "lounger," unlike one of the 4 yo hens. I swear that one...
Pippy Update:
I found a broken, thin shelled egg in a nest box last Friday. I don't know who laid it. Pip usually laid in the other nest box, so maybe it wasn't hers? I haven't seen her in a nest box since before this all happened.
She is full of energy, is still taking the Amox from my...
I gave Pip another calcim pill today. She doesn't like those; I have to pull down on her wattles and that's a battle. As far as I can tell, she has not passed anything other than poop. Nor have I seen her in either nest box. She will still take the amoxicillin gladly from my fingers.
I need to...