sick of these!

[AvianEgo]

My bantam use to be a fantastic layer. She than started laying eggs with a fair amount of blood in them. It was bad enough that i had stopped sharing those ones with the neighbors. Then she would lay a rubber egg

intermittently. Then no eggs for days. Now i haven't found a normal egg from her in weeks. Suggestions? I give her crushed egg shells, oyster shells, and leafy greens. To no avail. And what about the blood? I know blood happens but every time? A rather decent amount, enough to gross me out and i eat everything. This was a picture from this mornings. Amazingly un broken. You can see the blood inside too.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here's some ideas. I'd say she has a damaged reproductive tract. Are you on well water? Has she ever had a respiratory problem? It's not always calcium deficiency but an imbalance of phosphorus and CA or vitamin D deficiency.
Is the primary source of food chicken feed? Are you mixing the shells in with the feed or separate?

http://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/search?q=odd+eggs

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/li...eggs-and-your-small-flock-of-laying-hens.html

http://broadleys.org/chickens/egg-problems.php

 

[AvianEgo]

Thanks for the response. The egg shells get mixed in the feed, but the oyster shells are separate free choice. We are not on well water, connected to city water. Feed is always available, nature wise layer. But she gets to free range almost every day, i know she gorges on worms and grubs lately with all the rain we have been getting. No respiratory issues that i have ever seen, behavior is normal and physically she looks very healthy.

 

[AvianEgo]

Will try vitamin supplements and see what happens...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The layer feed already has 4% calcium so I wouldn't mix egg shells into it as that will up the percentage and may create an imbalance.

Excess calcium will limit phosphorus uptake and can negatively affect shell quality just as a deficiency can.

http://www.nutrecocanada.com/docs/s...-formation-and-eggshell-quality-in-layers.pdf

Sorry I don't have any other suggestions.

 

[AvianEgo]

That's good info. I appreciate the help

 

[aart]

Is the blood inside the egg?
Wonders if a deficiency would cause that too?

 

[AvianEgo]

Yes, inside the egg. Which i heard happens and isn't something to worry about. But for her it's very frequent. Which worries me