Chicken Laying Problems

[Farmer Pete]

Over the past few days my Rhode Island Red has been laying eggs slowly. She will sit on the nesting box for 2+ hours and then finally she lays an egg. Over the past few days her eggs have progressively gotten smaller and skinnier. She acts fine until she sits on the nesting box for ever, any ideas. Thanks in advance.
She has also been my most reliable layer, so I don't know why she is starting to act like this. Is this normal?

 

[Michael Apple]

Over the past few days my Rhode Island Red has been laying eggs slowly. She will sit on the nesting box for 2+ hours and then finally she lays an egg. Over the past few days her eggs have progressively gotten smaller and skinnier. She acts fine until she sits on the nesting box for ever, any ideas. Thanks in advance.
She has also been my most reliable layer, so I don't know why she is starting to act like this. Is this normal?

Sometimes high production bred birds produce prematurely and misshapen or small eggs can be the result, or too many eggs being formed at once in the bird's ovary, often called double ovulation. Stress/disease can also cause misshapen eggs. Try using a high quality vitamin-mineral supplement in water like Avian Super Pack http://www.asp-inc.com/products/documents/prodinfo/a/aviansp.pdf . Make a fresh solution daily 3 days a week (dosage is 1/4 tsp per gallon of water. Probiotics are also important for intestinal/reproductive health. Probios dispersible powder is what I use with ASP http://www.probios.com/powdersgranules1.html . Dosage is 1/2 tsp per gallon of water. Mix up some oyster shell with feed so they can't have a choice from another hopper/container. Back off on scratch and other treats if you feed them, and just provide layer pellets/crumbles. Limit noise and stress around the coop. I use curtains in front of nests, and make sure the coop is comfortable as far as temperature and ventilation. Most recommendation for nests are 1 nest per 3-4 hens. I always made sure to provide more nests than recommended, even if the little devils horde one nest. Hopefully that will help your egg quality and the hen.