Causes of jelly eggs??

One of my Easter Eggers is laying jelly eggs. I've only had the hens since the weekend, so I don't know how long this has been going on. I've found two jelly eggs - one that the hens ate, and the other was laying on the floor of the coop this morning untouched. I'm not positive, but I think she's also laid one or two hard shell eggs this week. I could be wrong about that. Oh, and one of my Easter Eggers has a big bald spot on her back above her tail. If this is molting, could that cause poor egg quality?

The hen is young and just started laying. They are on layer feed and I always have a cup of crushed oyster shells out for them, although I've never seen any of the hens eat it. Today and yesterday I put a bowl of milk out for the hens for extra calcium, and they love the milk.

I'm thinking about adding tums to the milk. However, for four hens, how many crushed tums should I add?

Are soft eggs typically from lack of calcium, or might there be another cause? Is there anything else I can do?

How long should I give this to improve before replacing the hen? We have very limited space, and the entire reason we have them is for eggs, so I can't keep a hen around who doesn't produce quality eggs.

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

If you just got them this weekend, that could very well be the problem - change. Their egg laying can really get screwed up when something big changes.... a move, bad storm, new flock additions, etc. I'd skip the tums and milk (if they're not eating the oyster shell, sprinkle a little over their layer feed) and just give her another week or two to see if the kinks get worked out.

My father-in-law has free-rangers that get very little supplemental food. They lay eggs with very fragile shells unless he supplements with something intended to make hard shells.

Quote:
If it is only the spot above her tail, it is caused by overmating from roosters. Does it look like this?

Quote:
If it is only the spot above her tail, it is caused by overmating from roosters. Does it look like this?

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/20100423pecked.jpg

Yes, it looks just like that, but is a little lower/closer to the tail. Otherwise, it looks exactly the same. We have no roosters, so maybe she'll grow some feathers in.

I am curious about this too. I found one this morning under the roosts and am wondering if because it is so soft and mushy...did it just "slip" out? If that could be the case then I know it came from Susie. she also lays hard sheled/normal eggs. But Susie is our Odd girl. She is the lowest on the pecking order and is a srange looking but very docile sweetie. All the chickens eat very well so I don't think diet is an issue.
Anyone else have any ideas what causes this?
Chickens are fascinating!

My hens have been laying for about a month now and every thing has been good. They are free range, and I only have 5 layers and 1 rooster. The eggs have been great! One has been laying double yolks, like 3 to 4 times a week. And this morning I found a jelly egg in one off the nesting boxes. I feed them layer feed and oyster shells , should I be giving them something else? Tbanks

GoDawgs said:

Yes, it looks just like that, but is a little lower/closer to the tail.  Otherwise, it looks exactly the same.  We have no roosters, so maybe she'll grow some feathers in.

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An old boy I know who breeds EE told be that a bald spot near the tail is sign that you have a roo. I have three young EE. One has a bald spot. He crowed yesterday.

Tomhusker said:

An old boy I know who breeds EE told be that a bald spot near the tail is sign that you have a roo. I have three young EE. One has a bald spot. He crowed yesterday.

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The reason that having the bald spot is the sign that there's a roo is that the roo is jumping on the hens and grabbing on to breed them.

Nothing to see here. Next post please.