Broody hen STILL can't lay a healthy egg... why?

[Snack Giver]

Hello, my little broody hen "Ginger" can't seem to lay her own normal egg. She only drops those premature eggs at night that break on the ground and have paper thin shells. Every morning I scopp them up while cleaning the poop. Now she is a young adult, not a pullet. She has laid a few healthy eggs before (the shells were still thin though). To try to help I have been giving her (and the other 4 birds) lots of calcium: oyster shell, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese. I always have those snacks sitting by the food. Their daily diet is pellets, corn, fruits, scratch, cheese, crickets or mealworms often.

She has been sitting in the hen house a lot lately. Last night I had to remove her. She sits on another bird (Zena)'s brown egg. Its always the brown egg that she sits on, nobody else (There are 3 nests). She also moved all 4 golfballs into the one nest she broods on. Today I threw away the golfballs. They don't need them anymore.

My question is why doesnt she grow out of laying these small premature eggs at night? She's 8-9 months old, like all the other birds. Everyone else lays perfect eggs. She is a Wyandotte-mix medium-sized hen. She's also the top bird, bossy and the leader. Strange. I'm worried about her health. We had one bird die this summer from a maggot infestation of a wound and we were heartbroken. So I worry a lot when I see anything different.

She's the red-head on the video here (always first to run up)

THANKS..

 

[wannabchick]

I don't know the answer, but iam bumping this..so maybe others will chime in and help advise
Xoxoxo

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, how long has she been broody? Normally a hen would stop laying all together when they are broody and they only eat once a day and poop once a day. If she is still broody it's possible that her eggs are not as good due to not eating as much as she should when she is supposed to be laying. I would suggest you try to stop her being broody if you can most people put their hen in a dog crate or similar and can take up to a week. Once she has stopped being broody ensure she has access to plenty of food and water to build her weight back up (broody hens usually lose a bit of weight) and hopefully you will find she starts laying normally again. Another possibility is that she has a problem absorbing the calcium which could be gentetic or lack of vitamin D. These are just some ideas to get you started hopefully someone else maybe able to help more. Good luck