egg layed with cracked shell

[cloudlet]

Hi,

My Blue Andalusian has, for the past two days, layed an egg that is cracked at the narrow end. Yesterday, I thought maybe another hen may have cracked it because there were two eggs when I collected. But today, she was the first to lay. The shell is thin at the narrow end (and overall much thinner that the other two hens lay) and she lays the biggest eggs of the the three. Has anyone experienced this before and can you offer any suggestions? I feed them back their eggshells, but maybe she needs more.

Thanks.

 

[katrinag]

Are you feeding layer pellets and oyster shell?

 

[cloudlet]

I'm feeding layer pellets and then just feeding them back their egg shells. They other two have very thick shells, but maybe she needs more the oyster shell.

 

[warren]

Could she be needing a moult? If her head is bald she might be starting.

 

[katrinag]

I would just stick a bowl of oyster shell out just in case.

 

[cloudlet]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll put a bowl of oyster shells out and see if it helps.

As for the moult, she shouldn't be, she's only 6 months old and has only been laying for about a month. I looked back at her shells and until yesterday, they were fairly thick.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[onefatgerman]

I had some with cracked shells. Thought maybe they were poking at them, but also noticed I didn't have much nesting material in the box. Adding a cushion must have helped because I haven't had a cracked shell since.

 

[cloudlet]

That's a good point! They've been pushing the nesting material out of the way and part of the nest box is bare on the bottom.