Egyptian Fayoumi having problems with too big of eggs

[brandieleec]

Hi All,
I am having problems with my Egyptian Fayoumi and her eggs. She is 2 yrs old and last year was an excellent layer. When she started again this spring we had a couple normal eggs then she started having trouble. I thought she was dying because she would hardly move and her head would just droop, so I brought her in to see if I could get some water in her while we did some research. I thought I could feel an egg shape but it wasn't hard so I wasn't sure until she ended up laying a shell-less egg in my hand. Since then we made sure she had more calcium and had a few normal eggs, but now her eggs are huge for her and it takes her forever to lay them. This time it's been over a week and she still hasn't laid it, but she is not the typical "eggbound" hen. She functions like normal. Last time she finally laid it after days of warm water soaking and massaging her vent area. This time it's been even longer. I feel so bad for her! Is there anything we can do to try to make the eggs not grow so big? Or to slow or stop her egg production?
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Brandie

 

[A Chicken Owner]

Reduce the amount of protein in her diet to reduce egg size. There are only two reasons why a healthy hen would stop laying.
1. Molting
2. Going broody.

 

[brandieleec]

How can I reduce the protein she eats? All she gets is their normal scratch and then what she forages when they are ranging?