Hi, I am Sethileen and I found your site when I was trying to search the web for what might be wrong with my chicken. My husband made me a chicken coop and run for christmas (dec 2011) and then bought 6 adult chickens(I think they are Rhode Island Reds) from a neighbor. At first they only gave 2-4 eggs a day now they are up to 4-6 eggs. However one of the hens has eggs that are very soft. I picked up one of her eggs and my thumb crushed the shell. I cleaned out the egg and washed the shell and it was paper thin. This morning, my husband came in and told me that she had laid another oddity. Where she had been sitting to lay, there was a yolk on the ground, the shell(?) was cork screwed out of the chicken's rear end, but still attached to her. He reached in and held onto the shell(?) and it came right out of her. She acts fine, she eats runs around and drinks. Her feathers look neat and groomed. She isn't ragged or dirty, and she isn't listless. We have oyster shell in the coop, we have begun feeding them goats milk (a friend in a nearby town swears that her chickens lay 2 eggs a day by feeding them the goats milk. She has 6 chickens and says she gets 12 eggs a day). I think that this hen is older than the others and we should have chicken soup. My husband thinks that she needs more calcium and will be fine. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? What should we do to help her or should we just eat her?
Thanks, Yay Chicks,
I grew up on a farm (I know that doesn't make me an expert) and mom always cleaned and broke/crushed the shells and feed them back to the hens. (I never knew why nor asked, I just did it cuz mom did). Mom told me that older hens can have problems with soft eggs. That they have difficulty absorbing calcium as they get older hense the soft eggs. Her solution Chicken noodle soup. ;)
Edited by Sethileen - 3/4/12 at 9:24am
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