Euthanize or rehome broken chicken?

[Judiv]

My 1 yr old Easter Egger can only lay softies or half- and barely-shelled eggs. Her eggs were ok for the first month or two when she started laying in January, but the last one that wasn't broken or dented was June 1st. It makes a mess in the egg box and she's not producing usable eggs. If there's not a way to keep her from laying at all, I need to get rid of her since she bullies one of the other good layers. I've tried everything from ES, OS, and Tum's to vitamin supplements with no success. It breaks my heart, but I'm ready to give her up. She's one of four hens and I'm a first time backyard chicken enthusiast. Question is: euthanize or rehome?

 

[black_cat]

@aart ?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Only you can answer that. The problem isn't always about calcium. It could be an imbalance of phosphorus to calcium, D3, a damaged uterus, disease, stress, heat and believe it or not, too much calcium.
For a healthy hen, it is important to maintain a ratio of about 10:1 calcium to phosphorus. It isn't always that simple, D3 and several minerals play a critical role. So if one loads up the diet with calcium, they could make matters worse. Matters that weren't related to calcium deficiency in the first place.
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/factors-influencing-shell-quality
http://www.poultryhub.org/physiology/body-systems/reproductive-system/
https://www.feedstrategy.com/poultry/how-hen-nutrition-impacts-egg-shell-quality/

Not all chicken hens are egg laying machines. They are animals that happen to feed us breakfast. And they taste good. This may not work for many chicken pet people but my goal has always been to honor the bird. To me, that means to not waste the bird. If euthanasia is your choice, personally, I'd make a good meal out of her.

 

[Judiv]

Only you can answer that. The problem isn't always about calcium. It could be an imbalance of phosphorus to calcium, D3, a damaged uterus, disease, stress, heat and believe it or not, too much calcium.
For a healthy hen, it is important to maintain a ratio of about 10:1 calcium to phosphorus. It isn't always that simple, D3 and other minerals play a critical role. So if one loads up the diet with calcium, they could make matters worse. Matters that weren't related to calcium deficiency in the first place.
https://thepoultrysite.com/articles/factors-influencing-shell-quality
http://www.poultryhub.org/physiology/body-systems/reproductive-system/
https://www.feedstrategy.com/poultry/how-hen-nutrition-impacts-egg-shell-quality/

Not all chicken hens are egg laying machines. They are animals that happen to feed us breakfast. And they taste good. This may not work for many chicken pet people but my goal has always been to honor the bird. To me, that means to not waste the bird. If euthanasia is your choice, personally, I'd make a good meal out of her.

Thank you for these great articles! A LOT of complicated detail in these studies, but they show that egg shell issues can be due to a myriad of issues. I might try changing a few things for my girls for another week or 2 before giving up on my sweet, gray, 'broken' chickie.
If I do get rid of her, I'll let someone else eat her....I just can't. She's a good bit skinnier or lighter than her sisters anyway. Not much of a meal.
Thank you for the advice!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

IMO, if a raccoon can find enough meat on a bird, so can I.
I had another thought. I don't know what kind of housing you have for your birds but if you can reduce daily light to 8 hours a day or less, she will molt and stop laying. Perhaps if you don't have a separate building where you can black out the windows, put her in a cage in the garage at night and only let her out to be with the flock for 8 hours a day. In a week or two, she will quit laying. Then when she recovers from molt, you can reboot her balanced nutrition and she'll be back to normal.
Just a thought that may work.

 

[Judiv]

IMO, if a raccoon can find enough meat on a bird, so can I.
I had another thought. I don't know what kind of housing you have for your birds but if you can reduce daily light to 8 hours a day or less, she will molt and stop laying. Perhaps if you don't have a separate building where you can black out the windows, put her in a cage in the garage at night and only let her out to be with the flock for 8 hours a day. In a week or two, she will quit laying. Then when she recovers from molt, you can reboot her balanced nutrition and she'll be back to normal.
Just a thought that may work.

Thank you. One of the articles above mentioned their laying recovery after molting... Sounds like a good idea, but I wonder about the stress it may cause separating her from the others for half the day and keeping her confined. But it might just work!
Thanks again.... Will consider that.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Thank you. One of the articles above mentioned their laying recovery after molting... Sounds like a good idea, but I wonder about the stress it may cause separating her from the others for half the day and keeping her confined. But it might just work!
Thanks again.... Will consider that.

Well, if she is in the dark, her body will consider that night time so there will be no stress. When she goes out in the middle of the day to rejoin the flock, it will seem normal to her.
I currently have 6 housing situations. Two of which I can black out if needed and I can induce molt any time.

 

[Judiv]

Good point! Sounds simple enough. I can easily darken the roost during the day, but will have to provide other nesting boxes for the others. I already have one 'satellite' egg box that the Orpingtons love using. Worth a try! Thank you.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

But for this to work, no light can get to the bird or be detected by the pineal gland.
Just darkening the roost won't do it. They have an internal clock that tells them what time to wake up and if there is any light at all, they will know it is after dawn.

 

[Onyxflock]

Good point! Sounds simple enough. I can easily darken the roost during the day, but will have to provide other nesting boxes for the others. I already have one 'satellite' egg box that the Orpingtons love using. Worth a try! Thank you.

Sounds like it would be easier to give her her own space to roost & lay. Its not too hard to fence a corner & put in a little house (igloo dog house - or similar) for her to roost that you can control the light. Run her in earlier than the others, to lock her in for the number of hours needed.
Separating her will help keep your nest boxes clean too.