A Soft Shelled Egg tells the Story

-
Yesterday, I caught a hen eating an egg, and started looking at why. Today, I found a soft egg, it was a whole egg, without the shell. Egg shells require a lot of calcium,  so this shows my chickens need more in their diet. So I picked up some oyster shells and grit, and a flock block that's filled with all kinds of goodies for them. 

Hopefully this will stop our egg eating issues. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tying up Tomatoes

-
Image
Everyone has their own unique ways of trellising tomatoes, this is my budget method.  But first- why? Trellising tomatoes allows airflow through the plant, which helps keep it healthier and makes it easier to pick tomatoes, and spot issues- like those pesky tomato horn worms (buy a black light flash light and do your search in the evening- those suckers glow! Saves hours of looking over your tomato plants).  I have left tomato plants just do their thing in the past, so I know firsthand how much of a pain it can be to harvest from unruly plants.  So I have my tomatoes lined up with my t posts that my cattle panel arches are on, so we put a second post on the edge of the garden and ran a wire towards the top.  Then, I took twine and tied a piece to the wire and a piece to a stronger stem. As I see limbs that need some help, I add twine or tighten up the pieces. (Wait until you start running twine to put up the wire so noone gets clotheslined unintentionally) Happy
Read more

Adventures in chicken keeping: a case of sauer crop & a Gartner snake!

-
When I went out yesterday morning, I noticed my rhode island red just wasn't acting right. So I moved her into a dog crate so she can rest and I can keep a closer eye on her.  She's holding her wings down, her tail is down and just didnt seem like she had energy. I took a small handful of scratch and put it in the crate, and she wasnt interested. She has a bulge at the base of her neck.  So I google sauer crop, which I know is a common problem in chickens. The crop is a holding area for food at the base of the neck just before the gizzard where the chickens "chew" their food as they don't have teeth. They have to swallow very small rocks or grit to help break down their food. If their food gets stuck in the crop, it starts to ferment, and can give off a sour smell. (My husband and I have spring allergies right now, so it makes it harder to smell this issue) I looked up how to treat it. Gently massage her neck upward & feed plain yogurt. Fortunately, I was just
Read more

Take care of your tools and they will take care of you

-
So with expanding the garden this year, I have struggled with grass growing, which means I have to get under the roots to get rid of it. So I get out my hoe and it was  still a chore. I still have more do that I didn't get done before the rain. (A gardeners work is never finished) I asked hubby to sharpen my hoe. He said he was surprised I didnt ask sooner when he saw it. There wasn't a blade left. After he sharpened it, I went out the next day and swear I got twice as much done in about the same amount of time.  Take care of your tools, they will make your life so much easier! 
Read more