Egg broken inside hen and feather eating

[happyhencamper]

I had a hen that appeared to have an egg break inside of her. Under her roost, I found the albumin and a little bit of yolk. No shell. I have an unidentified hen that lays very soft shelled eggs. I am thinking it could be her. I offer oyster shell always, bake and grind eggshells back to them and recently got a feed that had oyster shell in it just to see if it would help. She was separating herself after I found the egg and kind of laying around. She bounced back now and is eating and drinking, and running with the flock. However, what is new is that the other hens in the flock are eating her dropped feathers and pulling them out of her fluffy butt area. I am wondering if perhaps she is passing the shells or more of the egg. This is a new behavior.

I saw a hen eat a feather in the run, another one ran in the coop and ran out with one and two others were pulling them from her butt. She is not normally one in the lower order of things.

Do chickens, eat, lice or mites off of each other? Would that cause them to eat feathers and pluck them from another?
I just spring cleaned the coop thoroughly an no signs of mites or lice in coop. I was going to treat them just in case but decided against it.
She was actually really pruning herself today as they were pulling them from her butt which she didn’t seem to mind. It didn’t seem like any type of aggression it almost just seem like food. I have read several articles about increasing the protein in the feed from 16 to 20.
She seems to be molting softly. It is spring here in Massachusetts. She molted in fall as well. They all seemed to molt at strange times this year. Some during the winter, some in the fall and now this.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

What do you feed your hens including treats?

If they are eating feathers, then they likely need more protein. Aim for 18-20% protein feed, this can be layer feed, chick starter or an all flock feed. Provide oyster shell free choice, don't mix with the feed.

For the hen that is having issues with the soft shelled egg, give her Extra Calcium for 5-7 days, see if this help with the shell issue. You can find Calcium Citrate with D3 in the vitamin aisle of stores like Walmart, CVS, etc. Give 1 tablet daily, just pull down on her wattles, pop the tablet into the beak and let her swallow.