Coco laid THREE eggs in one day

Now before you go calling the Guinness Book of World Records, let me explain, because they were not all eggs you'd want to eat.

She laid a normal egg yesterday at some point.  And then last night she dropped a soft shelled egg and a "fart" egg off the roosting bar.  So clearly, we're dealing with a calcium deficiency.

I transitioned the big girls off their layer rations a few weeks back and put them on grower/finisher feed.  Which is basically, the same thing, minus the high calcium content.  This way, I could transition the babies out of their brooder and into the big girls run and they could all safely eat the same food.

And then you are suppose to put out a bowl of oyster shells and the big girls will know to eat that to boost their calcium.  And they were eating the shells.

I also read that feeding the hens back their egg shells is a great way to boost their calcium.  But when I put out the egg shells, the babies also eat them.  Which is bad.  They don't need that high level of calcium.  Chickens don't urinate and don't have a way to flush that extra calcium out of their systems.

Here's Coco's normal egg.  She definitely lays an extra large egg.

The "fart" egg is on the bottom left and the soft shelled egg is on the upper right.

So a quick trip down to one of my favorite feed stores was in order for some advice.  And they recommended a liquid calcium which also contains vitamin D to help with absorption.  Now, ideally, you'd put this in your bird's water and let them get a little bit all day long.  Obviously, I can't do that.  So the directions also say, you can mix in a little bit with some soft food or fruit and feed it to your birds that way.  JACKPOT!

Coco and Ginger LOVE treats.  So mixing some in with a scrambled egg was no problem this afternoon.

Unfortunately, I'll need to do this five days a week for the next three months or until I can transition the little ones to layer rations.  Ugh.  I'm trying to simplify my life.  Not complicate it.  But this is a pretty easy solution to help keep Coco and Ginger healthy and happy.

And as an added bonus, this stuff is manufactured just a few miles from where I live.

Now the only thing I'm not 100% certain about is the bottle says that it is not for human consumption.  I'm assuming that the chickens will process it and that it's not a problem for us to continue to eat their eggs over the next three months.  But to be certain, I have a message out to the manufacturer.  I'll let you know if I have to toss eggs.