*Update - Unsuccessful Spay. Anyone have experience with Suprelorin implant and/or spay? Egg yolk pe

I am not an authority on chickens but it would seem to me that poor eggshell formation has something to do with calcium absorption. Calcium absorption is a complex process in mammals and no less complex in birds. Calcification of bones ( and egg shells) depends on such things as Magnesium, Phosphorous and Vitamin D levels. Since most metabolic processes occur in the liver, I would imagine a healthy functioning liver is also essential. If you are providing the essential calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and phosphorous and your hen is still laying eggs with soft shells, something seems to be wrong with the assimilation process. Your vet would know the avian diseases that could be responsible for this.

Cutting down daylight hours consistently does influence egg production, so I think you are on the right track. Once an egg is on the path of development, I don't think there is any turning back. If she has the right diet and no disease factors are interfering, then the shell will develop.

IceAngel said:

I would check the fact about full spectrum lights stimulating Vitamin D production in chickens @Luvmy9hens . Just because a pet store sells them to reptile owners doesn't necessarily mean they will be helpful to chickens. In humans vitamin D is produced by the skin when exposed to sunlight. I don't know where it is produced in chickens but I know it's not produced in their feathers, so that basically leaves their feet, comb and beaks. Vitamin D can be purchased as a pill or a powder. I would add this to the chickens food rather than depend on a full spectrum light, if VitaminD is the issue.

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The full spectrum light was advised by the veterinarian. It could be any type of full spectrum light. I bought the aquarium light with a specific wavelength. The lights look exactly like standard fluorescent bulbs. Reptile bulbs are not recommended and can be harmful to chickens. So far, Ellie has been fine with the lighting and laying eggs with hard shells. She has had a problem with laying soft shell eggs since November 2013. If a vet recommended it, and it helps, I am sticking to the agenda.

As daybreak is occurring later as the months advance toward autumn, I notice that Ellie is beginning to drop a few feathers here and there. Molting "season" is right around the corner! Last year, Ellie went through a hard molt in mid September.

Sweetpea died yesterday. She was successfully spayed, which I will write about later, as I learned so much important information. She was recovering excellently, and I took her back yesterday for a follow-up check and antibiotic injection. They took her to the back for the injection. The vet said that when the tech lifted her up so he could give her the injection, Sweetpea had some kind of attack/seizure and just dropped dead. He tried to rescusitate her, but couldn't. I have been in a state of grieving disbelief. Shock. Brought her home and buried her next to Honeybun.. Upshot of the spaying is that it is only necessary to remove a portion of the oviduct and uterus. I will be back with info on that soon.

RIP Sweetpea (golden comet next to Ameracauna) Feb 2013-Aug 2015.

So sad that you lost Sweetpea . Such a beautiful girl... It's a shock to lose a hen suddenly and takes quite some time for the rest of the flock to adjust to the loss as well. I can't understand how (if she was doing so well after the surgery) she would just "drop dead" from a seizure. No oral antibiotics? I am looking forward to reading your follow up as it will be valuable information for the rest of us.

Details about spaying. Our golden comet, Sweetpea, was spayed to prevent any egg formation, as she was having trouble laying them, and they were stacked up inside her getting infected. The vet removed as much of the oviduct and uterus as possible. He did this through an incision near her upper left hip. There is a chemical messenger produced in the area of the uterus/oviduct connection which goes to the pituitary and causes ovulation. When this area is removed, eggs no longer develop.
Area in square is what needs to be removed along with as much oviduct as possible.

Sweetpea had so much solidified/infected egg material that he had to remove almost all of the oviduct. There were a few places where the infection had caused it to adhere to the internal organs/abdominal wall. As many have noted, trying to remove the ovaries themselves is extremely risky, and this vet won't do it, since removing the uterus/oviduct is so successful. This guy has a thriving avian practice, and has done this surgery on hundreds of "pet" birds with laying problems, so I'm confident he is correct.
My suggestion is to have this done early, when problems first start to appear. The first sign for mine seems to be a swollen hot belly. Bring down the inflammation and spay. Any improvement will be only temporary. It will be back. I waited too long for my other golden comet, Honeybun, and I had to put her down.

Quote: I was going to ask to switch to oral antibiotics because we live an hour away. Didn't get the chance. Definitely will in future. But he has given others, and Sweetpea, twice, this shot with no problems. The vet tech has been there for years and is very skilled at handling birds. He said he thought it was an aneurism or stroke at first, then he saw that her comb was blue. I had noticed tinges of blue before her surgery. The only thing he could think of was that it was coronary. Possibly damaged by infection? Don't know. I've come to accept that she is gone, but I keep going back to that moment when he walked in with a shocked look and said "We've lost her!" It was a total shock and my thoughts went crashing and thrashing around trying to comprehend what he was saying. It would be so much easier if I had seen it happen. I don't know what her final moments were like, and she didn't have me there to comfort her. Haunts me.

Obviously, I will now ask to be present for all injections.

Edited to ad picture which didn't upload right 1st time.

Backyard chickens is a wonderful community of people who come together to support and help one another. I am so glad that I found this site. Thank you so much for taking the time to write about your experience with spaying. As I have said earlier: It seems as though too many of us are having similar problems with our egg laying hens and we are back to the same question... WHY? Genetic anomaly or environmental causes?

Quote:
Both of mine who have had this problem have been golden comets. The vet says a lot of the ones he sees with this problem are this type. They are bred for "factory" egg laying. Production units. They are slaughtered when they molt. So, it started as a series of genetic anomalies which resulted in hens that lay LOTS of eggs and don't molt for a long time. Those traits were selected for, but the trade-off is health. None of my golden comets has truly molted, and they are 2 1/2 years old. When chickens molt, they rebuild their health and nutrient supply, especially calcium. If they don't get enough calcium in their diet for some reason (parasites, a couple bags feed with calcium at the low end of the min/max amount) they draw calcium from their bones.

Since the problem initiates with shell-less or soft shell eggs that break or can't be laid, which get infected, which causes the oviduct to swell, which causes more eggs to get stacked up in the oviduct until they spill out into the abdomen, which spreads the infection, I suspect this is partially due to inadequate calcium supplies. I am going to try to force my remaining golden comet to molt and give her very high quality, high protein and calcium diet and see if I can avoid this problem with her. Fingers crossed.

My hen Ellie is an Old English Bantam. Purely "ornamental" (1.1 lb). Born 8-28-2012, she went through her first molt in November 2013. That's when the problems began. She was treated at that time for laying a shell-less egg (just yolk and egg white) which included a 3 day stay with the vet. She recovered nicely and seemed fine.

Ellie went through a hard molt last September and continued to do well throughout the winter.

This past May (2015) she laid another shell-less egg (no membrane, either). The last episode nearly killed her as she became so sick that she she first refused food...then water. I cared for her at home where she was fed by syringe, given prescription antibiotics and calcium supplements. During both incidents, she excreted the rubbery membrane within a week.

Ellie was never a prolific egg layer. She lays every other day. sometimes once a week, or even a few weeks pass before an egg is laid.

I can judge her health and "perkiness" by observing her posturing and the angle of her tail. When she is getting ready to lay (24 hours before), Ellie holds her tail straight out and the base of her tail is hunched. At that time, I give her Cal-Nate. Within 24 hours, a perfect egg.

My other bantams occasionally lay eggs with thin, brittle shells but have not gotten sick as Ellie who has had difficulty forming a shell.

Production chickens have been bred to mass produce and can REALLY run into trouble if the eggs don't pass (build up within the abdomen). Genetically, these hens are at a BIG disadvantage if a problem should arise that would not allow the egg to easily pass. On the other hand, if the diet was sufficient as to provide enough vitamin D and calcium, the shells would not be so thin, brittle or non-existent. If the shell is not hard, the bird strains to lay but the egg can not easily pass.

I am not convinced that the diets of chickens who can not free range have all of their nutritional needs met by commercial feed.