When do you start giving supplement for pregnant bitches? And what are you giving as supplement?
I am thinking about giving her fresh veggies, boiled eggs... anything else?

We usually dont supplement until she goes into labour. And thats when we increase her calcium (eg. milk) between pups.

Until then, she is fed her norm.

I've given 1 hard boiled egg a day as soon as they are in season. Have never had a litter less than 7 pups and always healthy. I give vanilla icecream during whelp to keep energy and calcium up.

OK, thanks for the suggestions :)

What does the egg have/do for litter size?

Unless the eggs are sperm from the male not much! The only way it is good to give a dog an egg is if the white is cooked and the yolk is soft. Good protein but number of pups..........not so much! LOL

... I just bought myself a truck load of hens so that I can have an unlimited supply of eggs to increase my puppy counts!

Eggs provide a source of beneficial protein. Optimum nutrition does have a bearing on number of viable fetus' in the animal world. For example, a doe will have up to 5 eggs fertilized in breeding season, but the number of young they will actually birth is determined by their nutrition during gestation; after an easy winter they will have twins or triplets. In a harsh winter they may have one fawn, or none. Whatever fetus' can't be nourished won't grow or survive and are resorbed.

Why wouldn't it work the same in dogs?

Well, I tried an egg a day on my last litter, starting with her heat cycle, had 10 puppies and everyone lived. Her previous litter had 7 and 1 born doa. I don't know if the egg a day worked, but I am going to stick to it.

ROFL...

No supplements for my pregnant bitches. IMO eggs are not a supplement they are a part of a daily diet. I give all of my dogs males, females, pregnant and not a hard boiled egg every other day.

Sorry, Bachelor's of Nursing here. Women with poor nutrition lacking protein are less likely to conceive and less likely to retain the fetus. So, just as an added precaution I give additional protein. Nurse midwives always recommend added protein because protein is a major component with the placenta and amniotic sac. Also, in early pregnancy protein is stored and then used later. Hence the hard boiled egg Works for me, my litters average 9 pups per litter.

I hadn't ever believed in supplements until we started having some small litters (2 pups as an average). I found a supplement for puppies at PetSmart and it was on sale at the time... I bought 4 big bottles of the powder. Gave one scoop a day to bring her protein up to 57% (the supplement had 30% and her food was 27%). She had 9 healthy plump pups and all survived! Needless to say we are going to stick to a high protein diet. Being in nursing school I have learned the same as the other BSN put in her post. I think that the protein really helps with the development and keeping more fetuses alive.

On another note, I didn't supplement our bitch that just whelped 4 pups and only 2 survived... Back to square one. So I am doing eggs and supplements on the one we just bred.

Had 3 small litters here too but last time bred 3x rather than 2 and had 7 pups. (yes we did progesterone)

Might consider the egg a day on next breeding. May not help but can't hurt. (my dogs are on grain free hi protein kibble)

folic acid. We start when we confirm pregnancy (either via ultrasound or relaxin test).

Do you buy folic acid for people to give or something special for dogs?

If you are going to use folic acid supplementation for only some of the pregnancy, one might get more bang for the buck by supplementing in the perinatal and early prenatal period as opposed to late pregnancy. In other words, do the same as one does for a woman of childbearing age to prevent birth defects, including heart and neurologic ones: supplement BEFORE breeding and in early pregnancy. There was a study in Boston Terriers that indicated that use of folic acid in the breeding program was associated with a significant drop in cleft palate I think it was.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16032001
Rhodesian Ridgeback breeders I know often supplement with fresh veggies, eggs, and/or folic acid to prevent the dreaded dermoid sinus. See this site:
http://www.rrclubsa.com/a_health.htm

Another thought is to use fresh food, such as eggs and veggies, as well as a balanced B vitamin with ample folate, or even fortified cereal as in Satin Balls. Good diet is probably key for overall good health and lines, as we learn how epigenetics influence expression of genes.

Found one link to heart defects prevention:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090514111404.htm

My litters average 10, never given an egg a day but I do feed my dogs high quality dog food and keep them wormed and healthy. An apple a day will keep the Doctor away, a yolk a day will increase your litter count! Really, I was kidding before, just a joke! Give them what ever you think will help as long as it does not hurt. A healthy diet is what is crucial if in your opinion that is an egg a day then go for it. I do not have a nursing degree but I have been breeding for over 30 years.

I feed this girls a high performance diet and have done so for the past year. (30/20) and I give her from time to time some omega pearl (pure fish oil) one pearl to her food (maybe 2 or 3 times pr. week.
I just knew that the eggs where high in good protein so I have added that too on pregnancy, but I have only added small amount. I boil 2 eggs and smash it and give 1-2 tablespoon of it once a day so 2 eggs last for one week. Last time I also added frozen veggies to her diet as there is allot of folic acid in green veggies.
It is always interesting to hear what others are doing and what works for others!