SOFT-SHELLED EGGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 276, 11 February 1928, Page 26

SOFT-SHELLED EGGS

I HOW TO AVOID THEI# If there is one thing more exasperating to a poultry fancier than another it is to find your favourite hen laying soft-shelled eggs. a d 3-s it is to find such in the nest, it is worse when the egg is dropped from the perch, and it leads to eggeating among the stock. The fact that soft-shelled eggs are useless is, not by any means the worse part of the

w trouble, it is the egg-eating which is apt to follow the laying of such eggs. When such are laid some bird or other is sure to break it, and if she does she will almost of a certainty make an investigation, and then promptly proceed to eat it. Evil communications corrupt good manners very quickly, and if one starts others follow. WHAT IS THE CAUSE? The cause, or rather causes, of softshelled eggs is fairly obvious—the bird which lays them is, for some reason or other, not getting enough shellforming food to eat, or else she is too fat. She must have more shell-form-ing matter or else made to do more work. The best of all shell-forming foods is crushed oyster shell, which can be bought. There ought to be a trough of it always before the flock; all wellbehaved birds will then help themselves to all they need. But the presence of soft-shelled eggs means that at least one of the birds is not well behaved, or at least that she has not sufficient sense to take her ration of oyster shell. If this is so, add a few teaspoonsful of shell to. the mash you give to your hens at night, stirring it well in. In addition it is a good plan to pour a little lime-water over the mash just before it is fed to the fowls. Limewater is made by pouring water over lime, letting it stand for half an hour, then straining off the sediment. An egg shell is mainly made up of lime, you know. If the trouble comes from too much fat, reduce the sharps in the mash, give more green food, and above all, more exercise, either in the form of litter scratching or jumping for the green food.