Eggs shell broke-

[DawnBryant75]

I had 1 egg shell break while washing but the membrane stayed intact, is this a sign of disease? I haven’t been able to figure out which hen laid it. (I have 5 boxes but they all share 1)

 

[NatJ]

Short answer: don't worry, unless it becomes a regular thing.

Longer answer with various possibilities:

If the shell seems hard like usual, check whether there is enough bedding in the nestboxes. This egg may have gotten cracked, and then finished breaking while you were washing it. It might just be a one-time oddity.

If the shell seems thin, weak, or soft, then the shell didn't get enough calcium when the egg was being formed. This can happen sometimes for no obvious reason. Egg production is complicated, and small glitches can produce many different kinds of weird eggs. Often the hen will go back to laying normal eggs again, without you needing to do anything.

If it happens regularly, your hens might need more calcium. Or one specific hen might need more calcium. A dish of free-choice oyster shell can be a good thing to try, because hens are usually good at eating the amount of oyster shell they need. Free-choice calcium is safe to offer, even if there is not problem.

There can be hens that just don't process calcium right, and lay eggs with weak or soft shells even when they eat plenty of calcium. They are relatively rare, but for those hens, there is no really good fix (although butchering such a hen would certainly keep her from laying any more eggs of that type.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

is this a sign of disease?

Highly unlikely it is a disease. It sounds like one egg had a thin eggshell. That can happen to even a hen that has been laying a great egg for a while, basically an oops. I think we are all entitled to an occasional oops as long as we don't make a habit of it.

What is the laying history of your flock? How long have they been laying? How old are they? What do the shells of your other eggs look like? While any hen can have an oops, thin eggshells and other egg problems are relatively common when a pullet is just starting to lay. The egg laying process is fairly complicated and it may take a pullet a while to get all the kinks out of that process.

When I have things like this happen I try to determine if it is a flockwide problem or an individual chicken problem. I don't want to mess up the rest of the flock by treating them if the only problem is one chicken. That's why I'm asking some of those questions. But like NatJ I don't consider that anything to worry about unless it becomes a habit.

 

[DawnBryant75]

Short answer: don't worry, unless it becomes a regular thing.

Longer answer with various possibilities:

If the shell seems hard like usual, check whether there is enough bedding in the nestboxes. This egg may have gotten cracked, and then finished breaking while you were washing it. It might just be a one-time oddity.

If the shell seems thin, weak, or soft, then the shell didn't get enough calcium when the egg was being formed. This can happen sometimes for no obvious reason. Egg production is complicated, and small glitches can produce many different kinds of weird eggs. Often the hen will go back to laying normal eggs again, without you needing to do anything.

If it happens regularly, your hens might need more calcium. Or one specific hen might need more calcium. A dish of free-choice oyster shell can be a good thing to try, because hens are usually good at eating the amount of oyster shell they need. Free-choice calcium is safe to offer, even if there is not problem.

There can be hens that just don't process calcium right, and lay eggs with weak or soft shells even when they eat plenty of calcium. They are relatively rare, but for those hens, there is no really good fix (although butchering such a hen would certainly keep her from laying any more eggs of that type.)

Thank you!! It has only happen once so far so I will keep an eye on it and I will also add oyster shells!

 

[DawnBryant75]

Highly unlikely it is a disease. It sounds like one egg had a thin eggshell. That can happen to even a hen that has been laying a great egg for a while, basically an oops. I think we are all entitled to an occasional oops as long as we don't make a habit of it.

What is the laying history of your flock? How long have they been laying? How old are they? What do the shells of your other eggs look like? While any hen can have an oops, thin eggshells and other egg problems are relatively common when a pullet is just starting to lay. The egg laying process is fairly complicated and it may take a pullet a while to get all the kinks out of that process.

When I have things like this happen I try to determine if it is a flockwide problem or an individual chicken problem. I don't want to mess up the rest of the flock by treating them if the only problem is one chicken. That's why I'm asking some of those questions. But like NatJ I don't consider that anything to worry about unless it becomes a habit.

My girls are around a year or so. We got them in April 2021. They are good layers typically an egg a day with the occasional 1/2 leghorns will skip a day. The eggs shells are very hard so we didn’t think we needed to add calcium. I do think that this was an oops since it only happened once.
Thanks for the information, it makes me feel better for sure!!

 

[NatJ]

I will also add oyster shells!

The eggs shells are very hard so we didn’t think we needed to add calcium.

They may not need extra calcium, if the shells are usually very hard.

If you do add calcium (oyster shell), put it in a separate dish, and do not mix it into their food or into anything else. That way they can choose whether to eat it or not. Too little calcium is bad, but so is too much. Hens are usually pretty good at choosing the right amount of calcium to eat.