Buff Orp and Rubber Eggs

[Pellers]

My Buff Orpington has laid some weird eggs...she is not quite a year old yet, and some of her eggs are what we call "Frankeneggs" because they aren't perfectly smooth and egg shaped, but recently she has also laid some "rubber eggs", about once every 2 weeks. Otherwise, she is healthy and happy and lays great eggs most of the time. She has free access to oyster shells and is on a premium layer feed, and my chickens free range all day. None of my other chickens have had this issue. Is this just her normal or is there something I am missing?

 

[Farmgirl283420]

That’s weird one of my buff orps laid two eggs attached without shells

 

[rosemarythyme]

Have you actually seen her eating the oyster shell? Some birds won't.

Something to try:
If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then you might need to try pills of calcium citrate instead for a faster, bigger calcium boost.

 

[Pellers]

Have you actually seen her eating the oyster shell? Some birds won't.

Something to try:
If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then you might need to try pills of calcium citrate instead for a faster, bigger calcium boost.

Thank you, I thought of doing something along those lines. Most of her eggs are perfectly normal, so I will try supplementing her privately and see if the rubber eggs subside.

 

[Pellers]

Another rubber egg today, that's two in a row. I'm a little worried about her, but she is acting normally and eating and drinking so today I hid some oyster shell in oatmeal and gave it to the crew, and she ate it heartily. I'm picking up some calcium citrate pills to have on hand as well. Hopefully this is just some growing pains for her, as she's still young and has been a great layer up until this point.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Another rubber egg today, that's two in a row. I'm a little worried about her, but she is acting normally and eating and drinking so today I hid some oyster shell in oatmeal and gave it to the crew, and she ate it heartily. I'm picking up some calcium citrate pills to have on hand as well. Hopefully this is just some growing pains for her, as she's still young and has been a great layer up until this point.

Keep in mind by offering it to all the birds, the ones that don't need it are also getting supplemented when they might have no need for it at all (hence why I only feed it to the bird(s) that require it). Assuming it works, this may not be a one time thing, she may need regular and consistent supplementing throughout the laying season - but you'll need to experiment with frequency to see what works for her.

She may very well grow out of it as well especially if she hasn't been laying long.