Egg quality issue in one hen only, what to do with her?

[chickenmomma16]

Looking for thoughts on a particular hen...

She has been laying poor quality shelled eggs, misplaced air cells or instead of an air cell there are many bubbles. Her eggs normally break before I can collect them and it makes a mess in the nest box. Her full sister had a similar issue but was eaten by a coyote before I could try and help her. I feed Nutrena All flock and they have constant oyster shell out. All the other hens lay nice hard shelled eggs.
So, I’ve decided I cannot keep her. I have 2 options:

1. Process her for dog food with my extra cockerels (we raw feed our dogs and they get the extra cockerels)

2. Rehome her with full disclosure of her laying issue and see if someone wants to play around with her diet and see if they can fix her. She lays a blue egg and is only 1yr old.

There are pros and cons to both options. I hate to process any animal. Especially a 1 year old hen! But I’d also hate for someone to get her and not be able to help her, I am aware that there is possibly a genetic factor at play. I do not have the time to play around with her diet and I have many pullets to choose from for next year. I’m feeling very conflicted.
I don’t have anyone else to talk this issue over with. I just need other poultry people to talk this out with.


I managed to pull her egg out before it got smashed today. It actually looks fairly okay here but the shell is very very thin.

 

[Jessie404]

I would go option two, you might be able to sell her to someone that just wants a chicken, and doesn’t care much for the eggs. She would probably be quite easy to sell considering her age and her blue eggs.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Have you tried feeding layer feed?

Some hens just don't process calcium well. Maybe some rooster booster with D3 for her might help.

Do you feed back the egg shells? If not it can't hurt to try.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

I understand your dilemma. I had a hen a few years ago that laid a very porous egg despite the proper diet I was feeding. Unless I got her egg soon after laying, I was almost guaranteed a messy nest box to clean up almost daily. It's a tough choice, especially when you don't really have time or space to deal with a hen with egg issues.

I would probably end up processing her. I also have little time to deal with problem birds. I just processed a pullet yesterday with wry tail that was very severe. I didn't want to let that deformity leave my property, so selling her was not an option. With the deformity as severe as it was she likely would have had even more health issues later on. So I felt the proper thing to do was cull her. It's not easy to do, but sometimes you just have to do what you know is right even if it's painful.

I also feel that these decisions are completely up to me since I am single by choice and my son doesn't always make choices based on the same principles I do when it comes to flock management. He is inclined to keep birds I would rather cull. So I've stopped letting him help me make those decisions and have warned him to not become attached because I've been known to make these decisions very quickly and without warning!

Whatever your decision, make sure it is the right one for you and your needs. Best wishes!

 

[Folly's place]

My only Leghorn hen was laying thin shelled eggs, until i moved the oyster shell container. it was in the back of the coop, and i moved it next to the door. her eggs changed to normal shell thickness, with calcium deposits on the outside, and after a month or so, to normal eggs.
Nobody else had this problem; apparently she didn't go to the oyster shell feeder often enough in it's original location.
Will this help? Don't know, but try it.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

And if this is a problem that she can't get over, culling is a good choice, or she's a pet.
Mary

 

[chickenmomma16]

Have you tried feeding layer feed?

Some hens just don't process calcium well. Maybe some rooster booster with D3 for her might help.

Do you feed back the egg shells? If not it can't hurt to try.

I’ve tried additives to their water but layer feed does not work for my flock. I have SO MANY juveniles. I could lock her up for a few weeks in a dog kennel and feed just layer but that’s no life for her. Then what? I still can’t feed the whole flock layer. She won’t fit in with how I manage my flock. She’ll be rehomed anyway.

 

[chickenmomma16]

My only Leghorn hen was laying thin shelled eggs, until i moved the oyster shell container. it was in the back of the coop, and i moved it next to the door. her eggs changed to normal shell thickness, with calcium deposits on the outside, and after a month or so, to normal eggs.
Nobody else had this problem; apparently she didn't go to the oyster shell feeder often enough in it's original location.
Will this help? Don't know, but try it.
Mary

The oyster shell is easy to get to in a small animal (rodent type feeder) attached to the wall. I’ve tried 2 types of oyster shell. I’ve had issues with her eggs all year. Her air cells are misplaced or missing (turned into bubbles inside the egg)

 

[chickenmomma16]

I understand your dilemma. I had a hen a few years ago that laid a very porous egg despite the proper diet I was feeding. Unless I got her egg soon after laying, I was almost guaranteed a messy nest box to clean up almost daily. It's a tough choice, especially when you don't really have time or space to deal with a hen with egg issues.

I would probably end up processing her. I also have little time to deal with problem birds. I just processed a pullet yesterday with wry tail that was very severe. I didn't want to let that deformity leave my property, so selling her was not an option. With the deformity as severe as it was she likely would have had even more health issues later on. So I felt the proper thing to do was cull her. It's not easy to do, but sometimes you just have to do what you know is right even if it's painful.

I also feel that these decisions are completely up to me since I am single by choice and my son doesn't always make choices based on the same principles I do when it comes to flock management. He is inclined to keep birds I would rather cull. So I've stopped letting him help me make those decisions and have warned him to not become attached because I've been known to make these decisions very quickly and without warning!

Whatever your decision, make sure it is the right one for you and your needs. Best wishes!

I wish I could cull by myself. I’m married with a 3yr old. Hubby culls and I do the rest. Hubby isn’t a chicken guy. At all. He will cull whatever chicken I need processed but that’s it.
I always second guess myself on my culling choices.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think you could go either way. If it was strictly a shell issue I think rehoming her to someone who could better manage it would be an option, though it sounds like she might simply have poor quality eggs for some unknown reason - still, there are some folks that are fine with not getting eggs and want chickens around as pets. Since you don't mind culling and would use the meat that's also fine, to "recoup" some of the cost of what you put into her.

Maybe you can put out an ad, give it a week, and if no takers, go ahead and process her.