BCM laying eggs while roosting

[CozyDia]

I have a Black Copper Maran hen that is nearly a year old. She started laying early once she hit around 6 months of age. A big issue with her is that she lays her eggs while roosting and it would shatter on the ground. We lost around a 2 dozen eggs. She lays infrequently too. I thought since she just started laying her body is adjusting, but its been many months since she started laying and the same issue keeps occurring. All my other hens are fine and lay eggs in the proper nest area.

Is there any way to fix this or is it a reproductive issue?

 

[alinas2010]

It still could be her adjusting, she is young, maybe she needs a full season to adjust?

However, my hen Ravioli does this and she is around 4 years old. The reason I think she does this is because she has a hard time laying due to softer eggs. I’ve tried to treat her and change her diet, supply more calcium, etc. and we can’t seem to solve the problem much. Cutting out treats does help, though. Anyways if I notice her struggling during the day I give her calcium plus d3 supplements. Sometimes she goes to bed without having laid her egg for the day and she must get relaxed enough to lay from the roost. If you feed treats or scratch, stop completely and strictly use layer feed, that’s what has helped us. Make sure they also have oyster shell on the side at all times.

 

[Ridgerunner]

All my other hens are fine and lay eggs in the proper nest area.

Is there any way to fix this or is it a reproductive issue?

It is a reproductive issue.

It is not that unusual for a hen to have an "oops". A soft shelled egg, a weird color or shape, double yolker, no yolk, or just plain weird. The internal egg making factory is pretty complicated, I think we are all entitled to an occasional oops. But this is not occasional.

It is pretty common for a pullet just starting to lay or a hen several years old to occasionally have a problem. But yours is not old and has been laying about 6 months. She is not a new layer.

Your others are doing fine. That means you are not doing anything wrong. I don't like to treat the whole flock when the problem is one specific hen. You are likely to mess the others up.

How you manage this is up to you. I raise chickens to eat so my solution is pretty straightforward. I do not want a hen laying eggs from the roost that break upon hitting the floor as that can lead to egg eating.

Good luck with it.