Egg making

[aberdeen]

We have a chicken who has been laying eggs with no shells. They look like an egg and feel rubbery, but there is no shell on the outside. Any ideas as to what could be wrong?

Also, we had 2 Rhode Island Reds, (Cinnamin and Sugar), 1 Plymouth Rock, (Speckles) and 1 guinea hen. We lost Cinnamin the other day to a neighbor's dog and I was pretty upset.
Anyway, when we had the 3 chickens since Spring of this year, we would get only 2 eggs every day, never three! Someone who has chickens told us that the third chicken would take the place of a rooster and never lay eggs. Any truth to this?

 

[KKatknap]

What do you feed them? Do you have oyster shell available for a calcium supplement? That would help with the shell.

I hadn't heard the "rooster" thing...I have 6 hens and they all lay (although, they are molting at the moment...). Don't know if it's different when there's only three. I do know that most chickens won't lay every single day, so it's probable that all three are laying, just not daily.

Very sorry to hear about your Cinnamin girl.

So hard - especially when it's a neighbor's dog. Again - very sorry.

I do know that stess will affect laying. Maybe the trauma of the dog attack is causing the shell-less eggs(?) Especially if you already supplement with oyster shell. It can also be a sign of something more serious, so keep an eye on it if it continues to happen even with supplements.

 

[wohneli]

The timing of the days getting shorter could be slowing the production of your hens. The should pick up again in the spring.

 

[aberdeen]

Quote:
Thank you for your reply. You are probably right as far as stress goes. I had to go out to the coop tonight and put them all on their roosts. It is way past dark and they were still on the ground. This stress has really messed them up.

 

[aberdeen]

Quote:
Thank you for your reply. I have been trying to find out the answers to my questions and I am a new user of this website, so I thought I would try it.
I find the website kinda hard to get around and find what I want. Do you?

 

[theFox]

Quote:
Well if you have always gotten rubber eggs then one of your hens has a calcium or vitamin D imbalance.

The calcium in most commercial layer feed is only sufficient if your birds do not have a vitamin D decency or if your birds do not get so many treats that they don't get enough of their layer feed.

Vitamin D allows them to utilize the calcium in their feed.

Please see: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps029

 

[wohneli]

Quote:
Thank you for your reply. I have been trying to find out the answers to my questions and I am a new user of this website, so I thought I would try it.
I find the website kinda hard to get around and find what I want. Do you?

Keep working on finding things on this site. There is a ton on good information on here. I love it!!!

 

[tlcorley]

Quote:
Thank you for your reply. I have been trying to find out the answers to my questions and I am a new user of this website, so I thought I would try it.
I find the website kinda hard to get around and find what I want. Do you?

it does seem hard at first, like information overload or something. but read a little every day and it gets easier to find just what you need. Good luck with your chickens. and welcome, glad your here.