Egg laying issue - water balloon-esque egg

[mattybpxv]

Hi all,

I've got one hen, a Cuckoo Marans, that started having egg laying problems with a heat wave we had back at the beginning of July. I noticed she had stopped laying when the heat came in but when she started again, it has been either a rubbery shell thing with what looks like a tail or the egg is laid without a shell or a membrane. It comes out as basically a water balloon that had burst. The yolk is broken and it's a bit of a gelatinous mess. I had been giving her a calcium citrate + D pill for about two weeks but that didn't seem to do anything.

We've got cooler temps. now so I'm wondering if I should try the calcium supplementation again. Other than the egg laying, she is fine. No signs of mites/parasites, behavior is completely normal, eats normally and interacts fine with the other hens.

Any help is appreciate with this.

 

[azygous]

You left out two of the most important bits of information - your location and the age of this hen.

If your location is in the northern hemisphere and if your hen is aged two years or older, she may be starting molt. Molt can affect the quality of the egg shells regardless of the calcium levels. It's just a sign that the hen is ready for a little vacation, and the good quality of shells will return sometime in January when the days start getting longer again.

But of you're located in the bottom half of the planet, something else could be going on.