soft shell eggs

[kim s]

I am new to BYC. I have 5 hens they won't be two until June or July 2014. I did have 6 but went out one morning over the winter and found one of the Americaunas dead under the roost she seemed to be fine the night before. They are free range, I feed them a layer feed, they have oyster shell available and they had water available all winter, I also used artificial light over the winter, but egg production was way down. Several of them had messy feathers in the vent area, one of them a black sex link hasn't had feathers on her underbelly all winter and she has some bright red areas of skin in the bare area but otherwise they seem to be healthy they are very active and seem to be happy. She is the only one missing feathers. I have looked for lice and mites in the daylight and after night with a flashlight and found no signs of them. I cleaned the chicken coop and used an essential oil based disinfectant saturating the cracks etc to kill them if they were there and just not being visible, put in new pine bedding and sprinkled diatomaceous earth in the coop and added a little to their scratch(I give them about 1/4 cup per day in the late afternoon). A month ago I went to my local hatchery and got Neobicide and gave them each 7 drops by mouth to worm them. I am getting only one or two eggs a day. A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were working outside and the black sex link shot out an egg with out a shell. I had been seeing broken eggs in the bedding under the roosts so I have placed a piece of vinyl under the roost to see which girl is consistently laying the shell-less egg and just about everyday I will have an egg with out a shell broken under the roost. I believe it is the black sex link that is laying these eggs. Any suggestions? I just found out today that Neobicide is not to be used on food production birds We have been eating the eggs and the active ingredient is Ivermectin which is sometimes prescribed for humans so I'm not too worried but could use any advice or help you may have to offer. I have 10 new chicks about 6 weeks old in my brooder but don't want to put them out if I have a disease or something going on. The books that I have read say to take sick chickens to the vet but where do you find one or who can afford one? I don't want to call her if there is no risk to the other girls or the chicks, she seems happy. Thanks so much, Kim

 

[fifistamps]

Kim S,
Sounds like we have some of the same chicken troubles. I have been giving the girls milk products (yogurt and milk) about every other day. Today is the first day in weeks that my RIR layed a good rock hard egg in weeks. I'm wondering if she isn't eating much of the layer pellets since she free ranges all day. My buff has been dropping her eggs from the roosting bar as well. I have been treated for mites as well and seem to be all clear now. Maybe try the dairy. Mine don't seem to like the oyster shell.

 

[Cockerlinechick]

Hi, I was wondering if any of you guys had figured out whats happening regarding dropping soft shelled eggs from the roost. I have 4 birds, 2 are 18 months ish and 2 are pols and been laying pretty much every day for 6 weeks ish. However the last few days we have had some weird eggs and a couple of soft shelled ones, all nearly in the coop or run and not the nest box. After ready this thread I have a sneaky suspicion it may be my older buff who is doing this as the young birds eggs are different colours. I'm worried as I know if it's a young bird it's normal but is it for an older one too?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I've been paying attention and it appears that 2 of my hens are doing it.
1 is an ancient Buff that used to lay jumbo eggs with paper thin shells but hasn't layed anything since Feb. I figure the calicum resources in her body are depleted.
The other one is a young but experienced hen that got mauled by a predator of some sort. She has a large painful looking scabby injury between her leg, tail and backbone where she's missing a huge patch of skin. I figured her body shut down the shell making process to create less stress on her body as she passes eggs as she heals.
But I'm just guessing.

 

[Leha]

I noticed that all my girls were picking out the oyster shell and dropping it into the sand. I had a huge pile (almost 2 cups!!) of oyster shell sitting under my automatic feeder. In my mind, this explained why the girls weren't getting enough calcium in their diet. I switched to a pellet that has the oyster shell smashed in with the rest. This prevents the girls from picking out the oyster shell. It's the same brand of feed and has all the same nutrients as the other, just that it doesn't include cracked corn. So we give our girls some corn on the cob and other treats each day. This has had a drastic impact on our soft shell layer. She's been laying consistently, every day, since about 36hrs after adding the new feed with the oyster shell included.

 

[kenzier093]

I am hoping someone can help me. One of my favorite EE hen is laying extremely soft shelled eggs to the point where it's just squishy and has no shell to it at all. She is a little over 2 years old. Is she not getting enough calcium or something? What could I feed her? I always give them 16% dumor layer pellets and right now give them some cracked corn too. They don't like oyster shells either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Leha]

I am hoping someone can help me. One of my favorite EE hen is laying extremely soft shelled eggs to the point where it's just squishy and has no shell to it at all. She is a little over 2 years old. Is she not getting enough calcium or something? What could I feed her? I always give them 16% dumor layer pellets and right now give them some cracked corn too. They don't like oyster shells either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

That is the same feed I was giving my girls. Ask if they have the feed with the oyster shell inside the pellet. It doesn't have cracked corn in the mixture, but you can always mix the pellets with scratch if it's important to you that they get snacks. The pellets look exactly the same (so does the bag) it's just got the oyster shell inside the pellets. Good luck!!

 

[kenzier093]

That is the same feed I was giving my girls. Ask if they have the feed with the oyster shell inside the pellet. It doesn't have cracked corn in the mixture, but you can always mix the pellets with scratch if it's important to you that they get snacks. The pellets look exactly the same (so does the bag) it's just got the oyster shell inside the pellets. Good luck!!

Someone else mentioned just smashing the egg shells up from the other girls that laid them. I don't know if she will eat it or not, but I guess she needs to go in quarantine so she eats it. Poor girl, I go up there and she lays on the nest, but never lays an egg. Last night I went to pen them up and she was squatting on the roost and she laid another "rubber egg" again. I hope this works.

 

[ochochicas]

I've been paying attention and it appears that 2 of my hens are doing it.
1 is an ancient Buff that used to lay jumbo eggs with paper thin shells but hasn't layed anything since Feb. I figure the calicum resources in her body are depleted.
The other one is a young but experienced hen that got mauled by a predator of some sort. She has a large painful looking scabby injury between her leg, tail and backbone where she's missing a huge patch of skin. I figured her body shut down the shell making process to create less stress on her body as she passes eggs as she heals.
But I'm just guessing.

How are your two hens doing? Are they back to laying yet?

I also have one older hen that used to lay a jumbo egg everyday. A couple of weeks ago she was egg bound and very sick. We gave her calcium, she passed a broken egg, and was back to her normal self a few days later. Since then, she has laid two soft shelled eggs (one on the floor of the roost tonight). I assumed when they came to the end of their laying life it would slow down instead of just stopping all together. I'm not sure about that though. I'm keeping an eye on her but worry that she is sick with something.

 

[Gigl203]

Reviving an old thread. Got my first egg with an incomplete shell, it flexed when I squeezed it. Very strange, we've been getting eggs for about 3 weeks now, have gotten double yolkers, but this one stumped me. I'm glad to hear it's not an uncommon occurrence. Thanks for the info.