Thin Eggs at Beginning of Laying Cycle for Older Hen

[JillsChicks77]

Hi All-

I have 4 RI Reds, 2 that were born in spring 2015, 2 from spring 2014. I was given them by a friend in late October 2015 and they all seemed to be laying at that time.

The two older girls quit pretty quickly, followed by 1 younger hen. The other laid all winter! In the last 2 weeks, the 2nd younger hen has started laying again. Also, one of the older hens has recently started up again too, after a break essentially from November-Feb.

Today I caught the older hen 'in the act' and know that my thin shelled eggs are from her. Over the last 2 weeks, every few days I have gotten a very thin egg. At first, they were so thin that the whole egg was jelly and had to be discarded. The past few days, the eggs from her have been very thin and pale, but they are sturdy enough to be kept.

They are all on a high protein layer diet (nutrena naturewise). I have free choice oyster shells available at all times, although they admittedly eat them very little or not at all. The other two hens lay very strong eggs. Everyone is happy and healthy. The two older hens completed a molt through Nov-December and now have nice beautiful feathers.

I am new to chickens-- is this just because she is older? Is she 'getting going' for the season and more prone to lay thin shelled eggs due to her age? Is there a way I can encourage her to eat the oyster shells or add calcium in other ways?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome to BYC!

It could be not enough calcium in her diet. Or she is starting to lay after molt.
You could offer her egg shells in addition to the oyster shells.
I have provided you some links to common egg quality issues. Hope this helps

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/01/how-hen-makes-egg-egg-oddities.html

 

[Pork Pie]

It could be because she is re-starting her egg laying equipment and its taking a while for her plumbing to sort itself out - i really don't know as chickens here in Kenya don't go through a moult.

Wyorp Rock has given you some good links and advice, so see what you make of the threads.

I'm certainly no expert, but i have read that commercial laying breeds (yours may or may not fit into that category) tend to become increasingly poor layers after a couple of years. I know that here in Kenya, commercial layers are usually culled after 18 months or so (of course, they continue to lay, but not as often and thus become economically unviable).

All the best
CT

 

[aart]

Did they eat Oyster Shells at their old home?....or at your place before they quit laying for winter?

It's usually not good to mix OS with feed.....but.....
.....with new layers I had in grow out pen last summer,
they were not eating the OS in the dish so I just sprinkled a dozen or so pieces of OS on their crumble,
after that they started eating it out of the OS dish.