Advice please on thin soft rough shells from my rescue chicken

[ideafarmer]

Joanie wandered into our yard last Nov. in bad shape. She was skinny, dazed & had lost all the feathers on her rump. My guess is she’s an ISA Brown that flew off a truck headed for tyson or other processor. Nursed her back to health in following months & integrated her into our small 5-hen flock. She’s healthy, active but bottom of pecking order. She gets picked on but the others know she’s under my squirt bottle protection.

A month after joining us she survived a hawk attack as she was behind a wire fence in the run. I’ve since enclosed the whole thing.

She always laid consistently from the third day I had her. Her eggs were often rough, banded, sandpapery but large & strong. In recent weeks they’ve had thin or soft spots and are increasingly broken in the nest. I always have eggshells & oyster shells available. I’ll often take her aside & feed her scrambled eggs & eggshells to boost calcium & protein. Feed is Dumore 16% egg layer maxx which I sometimes ferment.

Would increasing calcium help? Any idea why she’s getting worse, and what I can do? Any advice would be appreciated. She’s been through so much, she’s clearly a special hen.

I added a couple of photos to show how she looked upon arrival. The big fluffy pic is how she looks now.

 

[igorsMistress]

What a pretty girl. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I hope she’s ok! I would say extra protein certainly wouldn’t hurt, maybe a general vitamin boost would help also.

 

[Shadrach]

Joanie wandered into our yard last Nov. in bad shape. She was skinny, dazed & had lost all the feathers on her rump. My guess is she’s an ISA Brown that flew off a truck headed for tyson or other processor. Nursed her back to health in following months & integrated her into our small 5-hen flock. She’s healthy, active but bottom of pecking order. She gets picked on but the others know she’s under my squirt bottle protection.

A month after joining us she survived a hawk attack as she was behind a wire fence in the run. I’ve since enclosed the whole thing.

She always laid consistently from the third day I had her. Her eggs were often rough, banded, sandpapery but large & strong. In recent weeks they’ve had thin or soft spots and are increasingly broken in the nest. I always have eggshells & oyster shells available. I’ll often take her aside & feed her scrambled eggs & eggshells to boost calcium & protein. Feed is Dumore 16% egg layer maxx which I sometimes ferment.

Would increasing calcium help? Any idea why she’s getting worse, and what I can do? Any advice would be appreciated. She’s been through so much, she’s clearly a special hen.

I added a couple of photos to show how she looked upon arrival. The big fluffy pic is how she looks now.

Any idea why she’s getting worse, and what I can do?

If you are right, she would have been 18 months to 2 years old when you rescued her. How long have you had her?
Red Sex Links (ISA, Golden Comet, etc) can start to struggle with reproductive problems between two and half and three years old. These problems usually kill them by 4 years old.

Would increasing calcium help?

It might, but I think you'll need more than eggshells to find out.
Buy some Calcium Citrate. Not Calcium Carbonate if you can avoid it. I make a paste and soak the paste up on a small piece of bread. I give about two grams once a day. This will push her calcium intake well above the 4% ish found in layers feed, assuming she's eating normally. See if three days of doing it makes a difference.

 

[KimberBee]

If you are right, she would have been 18 months to 2 years old when you rescued her. How long have you had her?
Red Sex Links (ISA, Golden Comet, etc) can start to struggle with reproductive problems between two and half and three years old. These problems usually kill them by 4 years old.


It might, but I think you'll need more than eggshells to find out.
Buy some Calcium Citrate. Not Calcium Carbonate if you can avoid it. I make a paste and soak the paste up on a small piece of bread. I give about two grams once a day. This will push her calcium intake well above the 4% ish found in layers feed, assuming she's eating normally. See if three days of doing it makes a difference.

How is she now?

 

[Mrs. K]

Maybe the extra calcium, but I don't think so. I think she is older than you think.

Mrs K

 

[Perris]

Joanie wandered into our yard last Nov. in bad shape. She was skinny, dazed & had lost all the feathers on her rump. My guess is she’s an ISA Brown that flew off a truck headed for tyson or other processor. Nursed her back to health in following months & integrated her into our small 5-hen flock. She’s healthy, active but bottom of pecking order. She gets picked on but the others know she’s under my squirt bottle protection.

A month after joining us she survived a hawk attack as she was behind a wire fence in the run. I’ve since enclosed the whole thing.

She always laid consistently from the third day I had her. Her eggs were often rough, banded, sandpapery but large & strong. In recent weeks they’ve had thin or soft spots and are increasingly broken in the nest. I always have eggshells & oyster shells available. I’ll often take her aside & feed her scrambled eggs & eggshells to boost calcium & protein. Feed is Dumore 16% egg layer maxx which I sometimes ferment.

Would increasing calcium help? Any idea why she’s getting worse, and what I can do? Any advice would be appreciated. She’s been through so much, she’s clearly a special hen.

I added a couple of photos to show how she looked upon arrival. The big fluffy pic is how she looks now.

those eggs are showing classic signs of mycoplasma infection. Compare here figure 5
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/poultry/diseases-of-farmyard-poultry/part-1-mycoplasmosis/
Read the rest of that page for advice on going forward with it.