Bad Eggs...

[lostinthewoods]

I have a R.I.R. hen that keeps laying eggs without a shell. Is there something wrong with her? The egg just has a membrane that forms and 3 days ago there was a very light shell formed. This morning the "egg" was broken. All of my other girls are fine and have very nice eggs. They have access to grit and oyster shells at all times as well as their regular food for laying hens.

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

How old is she? I believe that hens will do this when they are first starting to lay.. sort of a 'gearing up' period.

 

[lostinthewoods]

She is between 1-2 years old. Not really sure...she was given to me by a friend.

 

[joanna]

when was she given to you? maybe if she's been a recent addition to your flock, she's dealing with the stress of moving and fitting in? I'd ask your friend if she's ever laid eggs like that before.

keep an eye on her and keep us posted; someone here is bound to have a good answer.

 

[Dzzzyd]

http://www3.sympatico.ca/davehansen/eggbind.html

I found a web page that describes what you are talking about. It is called egg binding. Hope this helps.

 

[Dzzzyd]

They are talking about caged birds, but are describing soft shelled eggs. I would think it would be worth trying what they are saying to do.

 

[lostinthewoods]

She was given to me about 3-4 weeks ago. Do you think she could still be stressed?

 

[FrozenChicken]

Try giving her some oyster shell or some goats milk. Maybe she was lacking some calcuim in her diet at her former owners.

 

[SAZLife]

lost, I'm with you on this one.

I've just adopted a bird and was told that it was doing this and seems to have some pretty runny poop. The best that I can find is that it just happens sometimes at the start or end of a laying period. I'm giving ACV in the water and oyster shell in the coop all of the time. We'll be babying her for a while and see how it goes.

Let me know if you find something different.

Andy