Broken Egg

[Sophia V]

I want to make sure I do not have a larger issue. One of my pullets started laying about 3 weeks ago, the second pullet 1.5 weeks ago. Im still waiting on my third.

Two days ago, one of my pullets laid an egg, which by the time I got to the nest to retrieve it, it was broken. I caught one of the pullets with the shell in their beak. I pulled it out f her beak, The egg yolk and white was intact in the nest, it was not eaten. I immediately took the bedding out and cleaned the nest so no egg residue was left behind. I did not want them to eat the egg.

I assumed, since both pullets laid in the same nest box, that one pullet was trying to move the egg and broke it.

Here is where the potential issue comes in. I never thought the egg could have broke during laying.

One pullet did not lay yesterday, but it did not concern me since they are still young, we have less light now and the temperature has become crisp overnight.

This morning, I went to clean the coop bedding , which I do every morning and I found an egg on the coop floor, not in the nest. The egg was intact, no cracks or breaks. But it was covered in yolk. This led me to believe that maybe the egg the other day broke during laying leaving some egg inside the chicken. But, the egg yolk the other day was intact. I looked but found no other egg or egg remnants. I will do a full coop cleaning today.

In addition, I watched my pullets yesterday and all were active, eating, moving around. No signs of illness.


Update: the pullet this morning outside in the pen,, dropped/laid a "rubber" no shell egg that was broke. I am assuming the yo,k came from that.

Can someone help me understand what may have happened? Do I need to do anything medically with my pullet?

Thank you in advance for any help.

I did put Super DSF in the water. I also cleaned the vent and put some olive oil around it.

FYI: My pullets are in a extra large pen, not free-range because of local ordinance. There is always oyster shell available in pen, I feed them protein everyday such as fish or cottage cheese (they do not like the protein pellets in the whole grain feed). I also use ACV in their water. I also provide fresh veggies for them.

I also clean up poop from the pen 2 times a day to keep it clean and sanitized.


I have tried crumble and they will not eat it.
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[rosemarythyme]

What feed do you actually use (you listed a lot of extras, but not the exact feed)?

It's not unusual for new layers to have some issues such as soft shelled eggs, so this isn't out of the norm. With the oyster shell, have you actually seen them eating it?

 

[Sophia V]

What feed do you actually use (you listed a lot of extras, but not the exact feed)?

It's not unusual for new layers to have some issues such as soft shelled eggs, so this isn't out of the norm. With the oyster shell, have you actually seen them eating it?

Sorry, normally use Scratch n Peck layer grain feed. Currently, I tried another feed Kalmback Henhouse Reserve layer grain feed. But am going back to Scratch & Peck.

Yes, I have seen them eat the oyster shell. But just purchased flake oyster shell rather than the nuggets. Have not received the flake oyster shell yet. Also have grit free freed too.

 

[Sophia V]

What feed do you actually use (you listed a lot of extras, but not the exact feed)?

It's not unusual for new layers to have some issues such as soft shelled eggs, so this isn't out of the norm. With the oyster shell, have you actually seen them eating it?

So, she laid 2 eggs, one during the night in the coop while roosting, the one covered in yolk. And the shell was thin. Then in the morning after being let out dropped a shellless egg, only membrane which was empty. I assume the yolk on the other egg was from that one.

My other laying pullet laid this morning a normal egg.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Very possible things will resolve on their own as your birds are all new layers, but you can also try:

1) supplementing with calcium citrate tablets: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/soft-damaged-eggs.1452762/#post-24179334

or

2) by making a calcium enriched private breakfast for her, if you know which bird is having the problem. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then you might need to try pills of calcium citrate instead for a faster, bigger calcium boost.

 

[Sophia V]

Very possible things will resolve on their own as your birds are all new layers, but you can also try:

1) supplementing with calcium citrate tablets: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/soft-damaged-eggs.1452762/#post-24179334

or

2) by making a calcium enriched private breakfast for her, if you know which bird is having the problem. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then you might need to try pills of calcium citrate instead for a faster, bigger calcium boost.

Thank you. I will definitely try. I was looking at liquid calcium yesterday.