⠀ Can a vitamin/mineral deficiency cause a change in egg color?

[Eliza1313]

I have 5 approximately 3 year old hens. After they molted this past winter they all were laying. I changed feed, and they were not used to eating oyster shell and they did not need to with their previous feed. All of their shells became weaker, and one started to lay "shell-less" eggs. I have since gotten them past this calcium deficiency and they are now eating oyster shell mixed with crushed eggshell and the eggs they have been laying have harder shells.

I had 2 layers of blue eggs, 2 of brown eggs, and 1 of tan eggs. I believe one of the blue layers is no longer producing the oocyanin, one is now laying a very light tan egg, lighter than the tan layer. Is there a vitamin/mineral deficiency that could cause this? I know the color will fade during the laying cycle, but there is not hint of blue to these eggs at all.

It is possible that she is not currently laying, although I did check their vents and it appears they are all laying. I do not believe that the light colored egg is one of the brown layers' as I have collected brown eggs on consecutive days and they are no longer daily layers.

I have not had two blue eggs in one day or on consecutive days since the soft shell issue. The blue layers were never daily layers.

Thank you for any help.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

It sounds like the feed you switched to is not good.

 

[Eliza1313]

The hens were also malnourished when I moved them to my place at the end of December. They are what is left of my Grandma's flock. After her health started to fail the family members nearby were taking care of them. They did not know enough about chicken care and feeding. Not their fault. They were just feeding scratch because the hens would just make a big mess and hardly eat the layer feed. They assumed the birds didn't like it and quit buying it. About a month before I moved them I bought a bag of layer feed, helped get some weight back on them before the stress of the move. They were not laying at that point. After the move they molted and started to lay again.

The previous feed said on the bag you don't need grit or oyster shell. It is the feed they had always been on. Basically because they were getting enough calcium with that feed to not need to eat the oyster shell they never did. It was just not something that was a normal behavior for them. I am no longer mixing the calcium supplement into the feed. Most of the eggs they are laying have shells slightly harder than supermarket eggs.

I think she may not have been laying. Had two days in a row with blue eggs at the end of last week. I will wait until after their next molt.

I am doing more research on poultry nutrition. I plan to stay on the feed that I am currently feeding, have had no calcium deficiencies in any of the chicks, keets or poults raised on the starter this year. I can't afford organic feed, so I am using a non-gmo feed that is also soy-free. There is another brand available in my area that is similar, just have to do more research. Might even mix the two feeds together. The other brand is more expensive per pound.