Aborted eggs. Why does this happen on a regular basis?

[Cr8zycknlady]

I clean my the poop in the coop every morning and I see in the sleeping quarters 2-3 aborted eggs just about every other day from three of my hens. These eggs have a soft shell and of course when they are dropped, I feel like the girls are waiting for it to drop to eat the inside. Is there a reason for these hens to be aborting eggs on a regular basis?

They have oyster shell to eat at will, they eat a 16% protein diet, along with a little bit of scratch grains and also they get veggies and fruit as snacks.

I have noticed that two of the 3 hens have worms, which is a recurring problem with these girls (I have posted this problem on another thread on here) and I treat them for that. So I wonder if the worms have something to do with the aborting of the eggs? Is it defective plumbing inside the girls? Stress? Too much heat?

Please help!

Thank you!

 

[Judy]

Yes, there is a pretty good chance that laying problem eggs and the presence of worms are related. The worms essentially eat the food meant for the chickens, making them malnourished. Of course, the extent to which this will happen is related to how heavy the worm load is. Also, a heaby load of worms will damage the lining of the intestine and cause other ills in the hens. Here is an article showing some causes of various egg deformities. Scroll down to read about soft shelled eggs -- but stress and nutrition will affect chickens adversely in many ways.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[Cr8zycknlady]

Thank you so much Judy for the information (link) that was very informative!

Question - Is it safe to treat them again for worms if I did it back in May? Is it safe to treat them again now that it is hot here in Texas? What do you suggest?

Thank you!

 

[Judy]

It's probably safe enough but shouldn't be necessary, if you used Valbazen or Safeguard. What did you use?

 

[Cr8zycknlady]

Wazyne is what I have used in the past and the last time I wormed my ladies was in May of this year. Now I was reading online that Valzaben is liquid and you just give it to the ladies via syringe? It will be difficult trying to get the ladies to open their beak and put the syringe/liquid in the tiny mouths lol
When I treated them before, I would place the Wazyne in the water and so the ladies will have to drink the water in order to take effect and then treat again in 14 days from first treatment.

 

[Judy]

It really isn't that tricky to squirt it in their mouths with a syringe. Put the bird in your lap and gently pull down on the wattles, and the mouth will open. Squirt gently toward the side of the mouth to avoid the trachea. Another method is to put the 1/2 cc on a bit of bread, which they will gladly eat. The trick with this method is to plan things so only one bird has access to the dose, and is then pen her so the two groups stay separate until you have given them all a dose. Valbazen is also best repeated in 10 days. this gets the hatched eggs, which the med won't kill.