I've written before but was unable to get any advice that I hadn't tried. We have a BO that is close 1.5 years old. She started laying last July and laid awesome all last year. Close to 3 months ago now, she began laying very thin shelled eggs. Thin enough that most break as she lays. We had tried feeding her shells back to her, crushed up, and all water given to the chickens is spiked with either acv or vitamins and electrolytes. Our flock includes 14 other layers, and none have ever shown to do this.
As for the BO, she is big and healthy, though like a few other hens, is missing some feathers on her back due to being our roos favorite. Her laying schedule has not been effected, as she is laying 6 eggs per week, though I've noticed a few times over the last month where she was sitting in the laying box, and when she left there was no egg at all that I could find. Except for the egg laying issue, she is the same wonderful bird we got last year.
But I'm at a loss. She's a family favorite, and some consideration will be given to tagging her a family pet, it goes beyond not getting any eggs from her, and I don't enjoy the process of cleaning every egg out of the laying box every day, always hoping to do it quick enough before some of the younger ones get to it, and get a taste for egg.
We feed the entire flock starter/grower, as it's a mixed age flock, and provide free choice crushed oyster shell. ALL THE OTHER LAYERS laying beautiful shells, so we are 100% sure it has nothing to do with our feed, especially since the "brand" changes from time to time. Everything I've read states that she has a problem with calcium, or she's an old bird coming to the end of her laying...neither of which seem to be an issue here. If this was a temporary thing, I would have thought it would have corrected by now, and I'm doubtful anything else can be done. We've even tried getting her to go broody, so she could at least provide a service of sorts. No luck.
So I'd love to hear any advice on what I might be dealing with here. Any opinions on the situation.
As for the BO, she is big and healthy, though like a few other hens, is missing some feathers on her back due to being our roos favorite. Her laying schedule has not been effected, as she is laying 6 eggs per week, though I've noticed a few times over the last month where she was sitting in the laying box, and when she left there was no egg at all that I could find. Except for the egg laying issue, she is the same wonderful bird we got last year.
But I'm at a loss. She's a family favorite, and some consideration will be given to tagging her a family pet, it goes beyond not getting any eggs from her, and I don't enjoy the process of cleaning every egg out of the laying box every day, always hoping to do it quick enough before some of the younger ones get to it, and get a taste for egg.
We feed the entire flock starter/grower, as it's a mixed age flock, and provide free choice crushed oyster shell. ALL THE OTHER LAYERS laying beautiful shells, so we are 100% sure it has nothing to do with our feed, especially since the "brand" changes from time to time. Everything I've read states that she has a problem with calcium, or she's an old bird coming to the end of her laying...neither of which seem to be an issue here. If this was a temporary thing, I would have thought it would have corrected by now, and I'm doubtful anything else can be done. We've even tried getting her to go broody, so she could at least provide a service of sorts. No luck.
So I'd love to hear any advice on what I might be dealing with here. Any opinions on the situation.
