Older hen with thin shelled eggs

[MaresNest]

I have a grand old Barred Rock hen. She is a beautiful, big girl. I don't know her age, but I suspect her to be fairly old because she only gives us 2-3 eggs a week. They are slightly deformed and weak shelled, often cracking when they hit the nest. (It's full of hay, but there are golf balls in there. When I take the golf balls out, they lay eggs on the ground.) Her eggshells also tend to be a little bumpy in texture. She eats Layena crumbles free choice and there are oyster shells available to her all the time. She also free ranges on grass during the day. Anything else I could be doing to improve egg quality? I've only had her about 7 weeks.

 

[MaresNest]

She is the hen in the back in this photo:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/album/6153700/id/5133258/sort/display_order

and on the right in this one:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/album/6153700/id/5113936/sort/display_order

 

[MaresNest]

Two more pics of the grand old gal:

 

[MaresNest]

Bumping the thread back up. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[tamtam84]

She's a very pretty girl! My hens will be 3 in August, and I noticed about a month ago that some of their egg shells were very thin. I'd always had oyster shells in their coop so they could eat as they needed, but I found they never ate them. I started putting them in with their food and their egg shells have gotten stronger. I read that if they need calcium, they will eat the oyster shells. I don't think that's the case with my hens, though, because I have to put them directly in their food.

Another thing I do occasionally is save their egg shells, let them dry out, then crumble them up with some sort of treat like yogurt or oatmeal. This is another good way to get extra calcium in them.

I'm not sure what causes the bumps. I've read it could be excess calcium deposited on the eggs. I have an Easter Egger who has always had bumps on her eggs, right on the very bottom. Sometimes I can brush them off, but sometimes they are in a big clump and if I try to get them off it breaks the shell. Not sure how to get rid of the bumps on her eggs!

 

[MaresNest]

Thanks, Tamtam! I will try mixing the oyster shells in with the feed.

How long was it before you started to see results?