Floppy Egg = Stressed Chicken?

[ChickonLand]

One (I'm pretty sure) of my nine hens starting laying one "floppy" egg about every three days. All the hens are fully free range and their feathers and skin are perfectly healthy.

Three weeks ago we got a puppy and the puppy likes to chase the chickens to play, not to attack or anything violent. This is when the hen started laying floppy eggs. In fact, the hens seems so stressed that they started laying out in bushes instead of their coop (I figured this is because we'd bring the pup over to the hens' coop and it worried them). Some fake eggs solved that problem and the hens are laying back in the coop. But I'm still getting a floppy egg once in a while.

Can I give the hens something to strength their shells? I give them their old shells after we eat the eggs but is that enough?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Stress causes eggs to be laid before the shell is applied, so the puppy is probably the cause.

As the puppy grows, playing will often become killing, dogs are predators, so it's best to put a stop to the chasing now or else it will be harder to stop.

Using a shaker can is a good way to teach a puppy to "leave it". Give it a shake, a shaker can is a can with something like penny's in it. The sound should startle the pup and cause it to stop, call it over and give it a treat, I use hotdogs cut into tiny pieces for training which no puppy can resist. Teaching puppies to "leave it" is as important as any other lesson.