Chicken always has weak eggs

[PhenixJiRa]

I have one barred Plymouth rock hen that has almost always had weak eggs. She is nearly 2 years old and will have solid eggs for a week or two and then eggs that are easily chipped for another week or so.

I have learned to deal with this and just eat her eggs rather than selling or giving them away. Other than the shell, there is nothing wrong with her eggs.

They have always had oyster shells or dried chicken shells for them to eat whenever they want. The other hens eat then but I rarely see her do it.

Here is where I’m a little bit worried. I have now switched them all to grower feed because I am mixing my 13 week old pullets in with the hens. They will continue to have the shells to eat anytime they want them. But since she hasn’t really done it in the past, I don’t know that she will now.

Today her egg was broken in the nesting box so now I’m worried she might get an egg broken inside her (last summer I lost a chicken that way).

Honestly, I don’t know that there is anything I can do because I can’t give her more calcium without giving it to the young ones.

But maybe someone has had to deal with this before?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since you know which bird it is you can give her calcium directly.

1) 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.

or 2) Try using calcium citrate pills (the same ones that humans take). You can just pop it into her mouth and she'll swallow it whole.

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.

 

[SourRoses]

I'm only mentioning this because you're in Idaho...
Someone in Colorado posted their story of dealing with weak shells, they eventually fixed it by adding vitamin D. Even though Colorado gets a lot of sun, it may be due to distance from the equator, and each keeper's local topography, that not enough of the right kind of rays reach the birds on the ground for vitamin D production.

 

[Kiki]

I have one barred Plymouth rock hen that has almost always had weak eggs. She is nearly 2 years old and will have solid eggs for a week or two and then eggs that are easily chipped for another week or so.

I have learned to deal with this and just eat her eggs rather than selling or giving them away. Other than the shell, there is nothing wrong with her eggs.

They have always had oyster shells or dried chicken shells for them to eat whenever they want. The other hens eat then but I rarely see her do it.

Here is where I’m a little bit worried. I have now switched them all to grower feed because I am mixing my 13 week old pullets in with the hens. They will continue to have the shells to eat anytime they want them. But since she hasn’t really done it in the past, I don’t know that she will now.

Today her egg was broken in the nesting box so now I’m worried she might get an egg broken inside her (last summer I lost a chicken that way).

Honestly, I don’t know that there is anything I can do because I can’t give her more calcium without giving it to the young ones.

But maybe someone has had to deal with this before?

Do you feed a layer type feed?
Do you feed treats or kitchen scraps of any kind?

 

[BurbCoop]

Good questions from Kiki - if your flock is on layer feed currently, prior to the switch to grower, but getting a lot of treats, scratch, or table scraps, good chance she is not always getting the base calcium provided by the feed, let alone the free choice oyster shell she is not a fan of.

Assuming she is not snacking too much, I would try the Calcium Citrate + D3 for one week and see if overall egg quality improves, and if so, for how long.

If there is a noticeable improvement for an extended period of time after that first round, but the thin shelled eggs do eventually return, you may need to do another week long round, then provide her with a low dose supplement while the flock is on grower feed.

Once the new pullets are laying, if you plan to switch back to a layer feed, I would drop the supplemental Calcium and see if just a supplement of D3 will maintain any improved shell quality. There are some available vitamin supplements for chickens that can be added to their water - you’re looking for one that includes vitamin D3, but no added calcium.

If there is no improvement with the Calcium Citrate + D3, there is something else at play.

 

[BurbCoop]

Another possibility looking at the expression she has in that pic - she may have been refusing oyster shell and giving you thin shelled eggs all this time simply out of spite

 

[DLA]

I have one barred Plymouth rock hen that has almost always had weak eggs. She is nearly 2 years old and will have solid eggs for a week or two and then eggs that are easily chipped for another week or so.

I have learned to deal with this and just eat her eggs rather than selling or giving them away. Other than the shell, there is nothing wrong with her eggs.

They have always had oyster shells or dried chicken shells for them to eat whenever they want. The other hens eat then but I rarely see her do it.

Here is where I’m a little bit worried. I have now switched them all to grower feed because I am mixing my 13 week old pullets in with the hens. They will continue to have the shells to eat anytime they want them. But since she hasn’t really done it in the past, I don’t know that she will now.

Today her egg was broken in the nesting box so now I’m worried she might get an egg broken inside her (last summer I lost a chicken that way).

Honestly, I don’t know that there is anything I can do because I can’t give her more calcium without giving it to the young ones.

But maybe someone has had to deal with this before?

One of my hens has the same problem, always has. I do the same thing as you and just keep and eat her eggs right away. I provide enough calcium options also just like you, even give her extra which helps a little, keeps the eggs from breaking inside. All my others have nice strong shells. She acts normally, is of a normal weight and behavior, looks and acts happy and healthy. I was concerned at first but since she's a little over a year old and still acting just fine I don't have an answer why but I've always assumed that for whatever reason she just doesn't process the calcium as well as the others and it's just a defect in her.

 

[PhenixJiRa]

Thanks everyone for your advice! I really appreciate and will hopefully figure it out soon. Looking into the supplements and vitamin D etc