Bare skin and winter

[Photokitty]

i have a few (10 out of 40) of the chickens I just got with some issues with bare skin (with feathers slowly growing back). I don't know if it's molting or over breeding or something else but we are supposed to get snow on Sunday. What do I need to do to protect them? We normally don't get hard snows until late December but we do get freak snows from now until then.

Also, I had a shelless egg for two days in the coop. Yesterday I had 5 eggs in a nesting box and one was smashed. Upon inspection, there was A LOT of egg innards still in the nesting box and on the other eggs in there and the shell was just crushed not eaten. I don't think its an egg eating situation but could it be a new layer. I have 6-month-olds in with the inherited flock that are all mature (2 years old) and some weren't laying yet when I introduced the new flock, could it be one of them? All the other eggs have lovely thick shells. They get probably more oyster shell and crushed egg shell then they need, so I don't know. There was an egg pecker in the flock but she was one I had to have culled (for other reasons) and was separated from the flock (due to illness). Should I wait it out, collect more often or figure out the culprit if it continues?

 

[azygous]

Your bare-backed chickens will survive just fine. Last winter I had a Cream Legbar who totally skipped her first fall molt and spent the entire winter with feathers so tattered and thin you could see her skin through them - similar to me parading around outside in a bikini in spite of the snow.

The winter before that, I had an ailing seven-year old hen who just couldn't seem to grow any new feathers, and she was pretty bare-backed. I hung a heat lamp in the run for her and her even older mates to warm themselves under on single digit days. During the night these under-clothed hens would simply snuggle up to their mates and keep warm.

As for the soft-shelled egg making a mess out of the nest full of eggs, it happens from time to time that an under-endowed egg gets produced. It's not cause for concern unless it happens regularly. Then you would want to figure out who is laying them because that hen could use some extra calcium.

The way to avoid the mess is to keep the eggs collected. Many of us do it at least twice a day.

 

[aart]

Soft or thin shell could be new layer or old layer slowing down getting ready to molt.
Collecting more often will may help avoid having to clean broken eggs from the nests.

They get probably more oyster shell and crushed egg shell then they need, so I don't know.

How would they get more than they need, they won't eat it if they don't need it. Oyster and egg shells should be offered in a separate container, not mixed with feed.

Have had a few bare backed birds go thru winter just fine.
Putting your location in your profile can help garner better answers/suggestions.

 

[Photokitty]

Soft or thin shell could be new layer or old layer slowing down getting ready to molt.
Collecting more often will may help avoid having to clean broken eggs from the nests.

How would they get more than they need, they won't eat it if they don't need it. Oyster and egg shells should be offered in a separate container, not mixed with feed.

Have had a few bare backed birds go thru winter just fine.
Putting your location in your profile can help garner better answers/suggestions.

Yeah, I was mixing it, it's now separate as of yesterday. I collect 3-5 times a day (I have kids that like to go collect eggs). I live in West Virginia near the Virginia border.