Easter Egger Keeps Laying Broken Eggs

[AbbyTeters]

Please Help! My 8 Month Old Easter Egger keeps laying broken eggs. She started laying around 7 months and laid good eggs for about a week. Then she laid a broken egg every day or every other day. She didn't seem to be feeling well at the time. Through advice I gave her calcium citrate tablets and a round of antibiotics in case one broke inside her and caused infection as well as probiotics in her water. She got better on day 4 of both and started laying hard eggs again. This lasted about a week. She then started laying some hard and some broken. I gave another calcium and they got hard again. Now she has consistently laid broken eggs every day this week. She was hiding them in the pine shavings so I just found them last night (I thought she wasn't laying because we had a last minute spring cold spell) She is acting fine and is energetic, eatting, drinking, and her poop is consistent and normal. My chickens are fed Purina Layena Crumbles and have access to grit and oyster shell all the time. They get a little bit of scratch (very small amount) in their run every couple of days to keep them entertained but don't give other treats. They are in a run / coop, but come out every day for 30 minutes to an hour while we are outside (we have a huge hawk population) What else could be wrong. I worry there is an underlaying issue that will surprise us and lead to urgency real quick. She is my 8 year olds chicken and we only have 3 so we are very attached!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Up her calcium sounds like the shells are to thin

 

[OneHappyDuckie]

Is she laying broken eggs, or are they getting broken after she lays them?

I agree that she likely needs more calcium.

 

[AbbyTeters]

Is she laying broken eggs, or are they getting broken after she lays them?

I agree that she likely needs more calcium.

I haven't actually been able to catch her laying. But I am pretty sure she is laying them broken. There is always a shell, but it is always smooshed (word???)

 

[townchicks]

She is still a young layer, and may just have some kinks to work out in the process. I agree that she does need more calcium in her diet. You can dose her directly with a calcium tablet a couple of times a week. You could also give them all a dish of their layer food, wet down into a mash, with powdered calcium added. Sprinkle some oyster shell around the run, she may be more interested in eating it that way.

 

[OneHappyDuckie]

I haven't actually been able to catch her laying. But I am pretty sure she is laying them broken. There is always a shell, but it is always smooshed (word???)

Are they soft shelled eggs? Like townchicks said, young layers are more prone to having thin/soft shelled eggs, or just problems with their first eggs in general.

 

[AbbyTeters]

Are they soft shelled eggs? Like townchicks said, young layers are more prone to having thin/soft shelled eggs, or just problems with their first eggs in general.

My Welsummer laid a few at the beginning that were mostly hard but had some soft spots. This is different. They are like soft smushed shells mixed in with the white and yolk. I will try to get a picture next time it happens.