Buff Orphanton laying mishapened, cracked & enlarged eggs. Need Advice.

Date sort Score sort
Bruster Rooster

Bruster Rooster

In the Brooder
Oct 15, 2016
27
4
37
Northwest Florida




My Buff is 11 months old & appears very healthy. She started laying at 6 months &, until about 3 weeks ago, was laying perfectly normal eggs, but they were on the small side. The first egg in the group of 11 (shown in photo) was what she laid for 4 months. Then, all of a sudden, she started laying abnormal eggs. In the group photo, they were laid in the order shown (left to right). The one at the bottom was the last egg laid.

I have 6 other hens, the same age, who have no problems at all with this. They have plenty of room &, up until a month ago, were fed Nutrena Naturewise All Flock & given plenty of oyster shell on the side. They are now being fed Nutrena Naturewise Feather Fixer, with oyster shell on the side. When changing feed, I mixed the two for about 2 or 3 weeks before giving them pure Feather Fixer.

This is the only Buff Orphanton I have. The others are a mixture of White Leghorns, Dominques, & Barred Rock.

Is this likely a defective shell gland or the hen's body adjusting to produce a larger egg? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Some causes of misshapen eggs is stress or disturbances, did anything change in the flock or in the surrounding area? Feed changes? New birds added? Construction down the street?

Some diseases like infectious bronchitis can cause it, is your hen off or not looking quite right?

It could be a temporary glitch if she previously laid normal eggs.

If she began laying at 4 months of age that's pretty young for an Orpington, she could have matured too quickly and it caused some problems in her egg laying system.

Keep stress down, and don't crowd your hens, that's about all you can do and hope it straightens out. I have hens temporarily lay wonky eggs and some do it permanently, time will tell.
 
No disturbances that I know of. We live out of town & everything has been about the same. The same 7 hens, plus a rooster, were raised together & none have been added. She is pretty far up the pecking order & she is not picked on by others.

As stated above, I did change their feed from Nutrena Naturewise All Flock to Nutrena Naturewise Feather Fixer. I had them on All Flock because I didn't want the rooster getting the calcium. However, I didn't like seeing the hens eating so much oyster shell & decided to take a chance on the rooster. Other than calcium, I don't think there is much difference in the two feeds. Both are supposed to be high quality feeds. (Expensive stuff).

Other than the eggs, I see no difference in the Buff. She is very active & appears healthy as a horse.

I made a mistake in one place where I said she started laying at 4 months. She started laying at about 6 months, which I understand is normal.

The only thing I can see, that isn't normal, is that from 6 months until about a month ago, she laid smaller than average eggs for a Buff. However, they were good eggs, with good thick shells.

Thanks a lot for your reply.
 

Similar threads

B
    • Like
Two of my hens laying terrible eggs
Replies
8
Views
442
Folly's place
Folly's place
shroompy
    • Like
Hen hasn’t laid since last fall
Replies
9
Views
630
BurbCoop
BurbCoop
dadimari
    • Like
Buff Orpington infrequent egg laying
2
Replies
15
Views
2K
ChicksofHeaven
ChicksofHeaven
COOPhilly
Deeply ridged eggshell
Replies
2
Views
482
Draya
Draya
Bfancey
Hen doesn’t lay eggs
Replies
7
Views
419
Bfancey
Bfancey

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom