I don’t know how its been in your corner of the world recently, but here is South Yorkshire we’ve had a fairly miserable few weeks weather wise, very cold and dull.
I noticed that the older girls particularly were laying thinner shelled eggs, (and no shells at all a couple of times). I know they need calcium for shell production, so always make sure they have oyster shell to eat and I bake and grind up eggshell to add to their mash, so I knew that access to calcium was covered.
I investigated further (what did we do before the internet?) and it turns out that hens need vitamin D to be able to absorb the calcium.
The poor weather, combined with being restricted to their run (avian flu lockdown) means that they haven’t been sunbathing like they normally do, and it’s clearly affecting them.
Thank goodness that the weather has turned this week. The sun is out, and the girls are making they most of it (they really do bask in the sun).
We need sunlight as well, not just for the vitamin D, it also improves mood, enables deeper, longer sleep, lowers blood pressure and the affects of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is significantly improved.
So if you have the opportunity, get out in the sunlight, just 20 minutes during the day can make all the difference. I’ve swapped my priorities round, I can work this evening, this afternoon I’m off for a walk in the sun.
Chicken Nuggets 