Half a shell-less egg

[Wendyann78]

I have an most 1 year old lady bird suddenly laying these eggs...don't know which one, and all seem healthy. Seems like half the egg has no shell, half does have a shell. All eating purina layer feed, minimal scraps. I throw a handful of scratch in for them all to share each morning, always have adequate water. What to do?

 

[JadeFarms]

They could be breaking cause their hitting a hard surface. Do you have enough hay where they’re laying?

 

[Wendyann78]

They could be breaking cause their hitting a hard surface. Do you have enough hay where they’re laying?

There's a deep layer of pine chips in there. The half has no shell that's intact.

 

[aart]

I have an most 1 year old lady bird suddenly laying these eggs...don't know which one, and all seem healthy. Seems like half the egg has no shell, half does have a shell. All eating purina layer feed, minimal scraps. I throw a handful of scratch in for them all to share each morning, always have adequate water. What to do?

Almost 12 months?

Do you have some oyster shell out in a separate feeder??
I'd cut out all scraps for a couple weeks.
Might be she's not getting enough calcium.
Or she could just have a wonky shell gland as the egg is not getting equally shelled all around.

 

[Wendyann78]

I mix some oyster shell with their food. Maybe try it separately? I'll try this out. Thank you for your reply!

 

[CaramelKittey]

Usually shell less eggs are a calcium deficiency. I believe the Purina bag says on the back that you should feed oyster shells with it.

You could also crush up eggshells and feed them back to her. I like to mix the crushed shells with something red (jam, red food coloring, overripe strawberries or raspberries, etc.) to disguise them so they don’t start eating their own eggs.

 

[Wendyann78]

Do you bake the shells first? I've seen various ways of doing this. Thanks for your reply!

 

[aart]

I mix some oyster shell with their food. Maybe try it separately?

Should not be mixed into feed.
Put in a separate feeder ..and can add some crushed egg shell to the OS.
I just rinse, dry and crush egg shells in a DIY mortar/pestle.
No need to bake them but it can make them easier to crush and dry faster.

 

[Wendyann78]

Thank you!! Merry Christmas

 

[CaramelKittey]

Do you bake the shells first? I've seen various ways of doing this. Thanks for your reply!

I don’t, but I don’t think it would hurt. If I can I try to use old eggshells that have been outside in the sun. I save all my eggshells.