Brittle eggs

snaffle

Songster
12 Years
May 27, 2009
299
14
221
Illinois
My hens are 1 and 2 years old.

One of my red stars has been laying brittle shelled eggs.

They are also loosing their brown color and getting teeny hard bumps.

I had a barred rock that did this last year and never went back to laying regular eggs. Sheeventually went to the stock pot.

My chickens are being fed a very good feed, it is 18% protein.
They have grit and oyster shell in front of them 24/7.

The oyster shell is not pieces of shell like it used to be, this is little round balls.
 
Could be a number of things from aging egg tract to viral infection.

It sounds like you've got the right food set up. The most worrisome to me is the loss of color...that is typical in Infectious Bronchitis. While usually involving a cough and runny nose, it can be so mild that you only notice the drop in production and odd quality, typically loss in pigmentation and sandy, brittle quality to the eggs. It can pass through the flock in a mild form only affecting several or go through and hit most of them, like a bad cold.

If it is only one, and that commercial hybrid, I suspicion it is simply fatiguing egg tract if the hen is approaching 2 years of age.

Here is a good place to read up on egg quality issues and their causes (and cures if there is any):
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/17/sandpaper-or-rough-shells

And BYC's own:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

Hopefully it is something minor.
LofMc
 
Holy Smokes @Lady of McCamley that is quite a list in those articles...

the flock did go through a lot of stress recently with lice. I wagered war on them and it looks like they are gone but that doesnt necessarily be the cause of the barred rock having the brittle egg problem.

My feed is supposed to be top quality... but what if it isnt?

I wonder if I should be offering vitamins? Checking for a virus... or brochitis?

A couple of my cochin hens have been tearing a bit. (I can tell because here are dirty feathers on their neck areas)
 
You might try putting them on a supplement like Rooster Booster Triple Action Multi Wormer. I used that after IB hit my flock a few years back. It has vitamins, minerals, probiotics as well as a wormer and mild antibiotic. It really helped to perk them up and there was no egg withdrawal. I get mine cheapest at A Better Chicken.
LofMc
 
I gave the Rooster Booster Triple Action wormer for 5 or 6 day and I s and also gave a Rooster Booster vitamin supplement. The 2nd day I could swear all the eggs were a bit larger and I didnt notice the brittle sandy shells for a day two.
The eggs are now so brittle that they are breaking in the nest.

I am just about ready to take one to an ag lab and have them do testing
 

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