I have Barred Rock that will be 2 around September. She started out with normal perfect eggs. She was in fact the first of my 4 chickens to lay. The chickens are fed Texas Naturals Layer Pellets and freeze dried meal worms or freeze dried grubs for a treat. They also have oyster shells in their run. They free range anywhere from 30 min to an hour a day. A bout a month to 2 months ago my hen has started laying soft shelled eggs. I was getting thin shelled eggs but now there have been several no shelled eggs. And I have noticed that when she does lay a thin shelled egg, they are elongated. I believe what others have called bullet shaped. We had a bee incident (bees attacked the fan that is used for their coop) last summer and she stopped laying for about a month and a half to 2 months. When she resumed her eggs were elongated but had shells. This winter (about a month and a half ago) she started laying very thin shells and shell-less eggs. As I said they started thin and now seem to be shell-less. All the other chickens are laying normally. The hen in question is acting normal, except I noticed some patches of missing feathers on her butt and her chest feathers look rough. I thought at first it was her first molt as all the other chickens molted this winter, with the last finishing about 2-3 weeks ago, but now I'm not so sure. I do not see any sign of parasites. And she is the head hen so I dismissed picking is an issue. Though my Rhode Island Red who is oddly on the low end of the pecking order does have feathers missing around her neck. She did not have that issue until her molt, however I believe she is picking them herself and not letting them grow in from the molt. I've tried no pick with some luck, but will be trying Nu Stock today... but that is a different situation. Still I mention it as I have wondered if the incidents could be related. the RIR still lays perfect eggs daily. Things I've tried: I've cut them way back on their meal worms/grubs. They used to get several handfuls during their free range. I've cut them back to only about 1/4 cut for all to share at the end of free range to get them back in their run. I did recent switch to Grubbly's freeze dried worms instead of Happy Hen treat meal worms. I wonder if that could be an issue? I also have started adding Nutri drench to their water every other day. The first day I added it, my hen did not lay, but the next day she laid an egg. One that had a slightly thicker shell than I've seen from her in recent weeks, though still bullet shaped, so I thought it was nutrition. However, the next egg she laid, 2 days later, was shell-less as was the one today. I'm now wondering if it could be stress. I have not noticed anything overtly except that the barred rock does occasional pace like she is wanting out before it's free range time. I'm truly baffled and really worried about my hen. If it were a defective egg gland, would she have laid perfectly normal eggs for the better part of a year? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you in advance. I can provide pics as well if that would help.
PS I live in the DFW area of Texas and we did have that cold spell. I brought my chickens inside as one was molting heavily at the time and they spent time in a dog kennel in my game room and were taken outside to their run for short spells while I cleaned their dog kennel. I do not remember the eggs being as bad until after this, so I do wonder if that had any bearing.
PS I live in the DFW area of Texas and we did have that cold spell. I brought my chickens inside as one was molting heavily at the time and they spent time in a dog kennel in my game room and were taken outside to their run for short spells while I cleaned their dog kennel. I do not remember the eggs being as bad until after this, so I do wonder if that had any bearing.
