Egg without shell or membrane?

[Joysaphine]

I went to the coop this morning. My bluebell has laid eggs all thru the winter and only stopped last week because she is in full moult. She was sat on 2 eggs from my other chooks. When she came out, thoose 2 eggs were there (I know by colour which is which egg) but next to them was an egg that looked like it had been cracked (like when we cracked an egg into a pan or bowl or whatever. ). But I couldn't see a membrane and there was no shell with it either. I checked my chicken to see if there were any broken pieces of shell around her cloaca/vent. But there was nothing and she felt soft when ii felt around her. She is moulting and we have also just got 2 new young hens that have (after 2 weeks) finally joined the flock (we have in total 5 hens and 1 cockerel). So she could be stressed as well I am going t9 give her some calcium supplement too. Altho I have heard of 'rubber eggs'. I just didn't see a membrane there, but she was sat on the eggs. Can someone please tell me if this is so.ething ii should be really worried about or not. I have only had chickens for 1 year.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Hey good morning moult is tough one them.
Really tough on them.
Had she ever laid a shell less before?

 

[Joysaphine]

Hey good morning moult is tough one them.
Really tough on them.
Had she ever laid a shell less before?

No. Never. But she had laid right thru the winter whereas my others didn't, and she has been moulting for a while as well as laying. It's only this week she stopped laying until this one today. Buther moult is more now and we have 2 new young hens too

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

The egg laying process is pretty complicated, it has a lot of parts. Sometimes a hen has a glitch. Any hen can have a glitch at any time but they are more common with a pullet just coming into lay or a very old hen.

Just because she was on that nest does not mean she is the one that laid it. That could have been just coincidence. If she is molting I'm not sure why she would be on the nest. If she is molting she should not be laying eggs but sometimes they do things they are not supposed to do. It just works that way with living animals.

A hen is supposed to release one yolk a day to make an egg, not two. One fairly common glitch is that a hen accidentally releases two a day. That's how you get a double yolked egg, she releases two yolks very close together and they get contained in one shell. Or if the yolks are released separately you get two eggs in that same day. Often when they do that she does not have enough shell material to coat two eggs so the second is very thin shelled or shell-less.

If you rarely get a shell-less egg I'd just consider it a glitch and not worry about it. If it becomes regular then it is a problem. Get back to us if you see another one soon.

Goode luck and again,

 

[BigBlueHen53]

She or another hen may have eaten the shell. I have seen them do that.

 

[Joysaphine]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

The egg laying process is pretty complicated, it has a lot of parts. Sometimes a hen has a glitch. Any hen can have a glitch at any time but they are more common with a pullet just coming into lay or a very old hen.

Just because she was on that nest does not mean she is the one that laid it. That could have been just coincidence. If she is molting I'm not sure why she would be on the nest. If she is molting she should not be laying eggs but sometimes they do things they are not supposed to do. It just works that way with living animals.

A hen is supposed to release one yolk a day to make an egg, not two. One fairly common glitch is that a hen accidentally releases two a day. That's how you get a double yolked egg, she releases two yolks very close together and they get contained in one shell. Or if the yolks are released separately you get two eggs in that same day. Often when they do that she does not have enough shell material to coat two eggs so the second is very thin shelled or shell-less.

If you rarely get a shell-less egg I'd just consider it a glitch and not worry about it. If it becomes regular then it is a problem. Get back to us if you see another one soon.

Goode luck and again,

Thanks you for that. So it could have been one of the other 2 that laidth8s shell less egg. As I said..my bluebell has laid all through the winter. She is about a year and 4 - 5 months old. She started laying Feb last year and has routinely given us an egg approx 6 days out of every 7 ever since, til we got the 2 new young uns a week ago. As I said she has been in moult for a while so I was surprised that she still gave us eggs.and she is the only one that laid eggs thru the winter too, tho it went to approx 5 days out of every 7. But with the 2 new ones (just coming into POL) and the moult now quite rough(I would say reaching its peak), she finally stopped laying this week. (I was told they all stop thruthe wi ter so she has been a surprise).
We had 2 older rescue hens. One died of old age (in my arms) last October, and the other died (although it was an old chook) from being eggbound. And believe me I did absolutely everything to try and save her and help her get the egg out, but she died in my arms about a month ago. (The vet just wanted to put her down without even trying to help). So we went down to 3 hens and 1.cock. so we needed to get 2 new.hens. so I suppose it has been quite a stressful time for her. I will try giving her a quick calcium supplement in the morning and keep a dish of oyster shell topped up in the run. They have oyster shell mixed with their layers feed. But I feel that with laying and moulting she.myst have been needing.so much more calcium. Am I right in thinking this?
Oh and thank you for prompt replies.and help. I am so glad I joined this forum

 

[Joysaphine]

She or another hen may have eaten the shell. I have seen them do that.

Thanks for that thought..I will try keep an eye cos I don't want them eating the eggshells in the coop. I hope bluebell is OK and that it's just a need for more calcium.
I really appreciate people taking the time to reply too

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They have oyster shell mixed with their layers feed. But I feel that with laying and moulting she.myst have been needing.so much more calcium. Am I right in thinking this?

Since you have a cockerel, I would advise against this. Layer feed already has calcium in it, too much for non-laying birds. It can be very hard on them as it builds up in their organs, and ultimately deadly. Adding oyster shell into this only makes it worse. Your best bet is to get a low-calcium feed like grower or all-flock, and have oyster shell always available in a separate dish. Those that need it will help themselves.

If your hen continues to have problems let us know, as @Ridgerunner said and we will advise you.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Aso yes, welcome and thanks for joining. Usually when hens are molting they stop laying until they get all their feathers back.

ETA so she doesn't need more calcium while molting, but she could use more protein. All-flock and grower both have more protein (about 20%) than layer feed does (around 16%).

 

[BigBlueHen53]

SOrry, I edited my response to you above. Fat Finger Syndrome made me hit Post too soon, lol!