Hi, I am Sethileen and I found your site when I was trying to search the web for what might be wrong with my chicken. My husband made me a chicken coop and run for christmas (dec 2011) and then bought 6 adult chickens(I think they are Rhode Island Reds) from a neighbor. At first they only gave 2-4 eggs a day now they are up to 4-6 eggs. However one of the hens has eggs that are very soft. I picked up one of her eggs and my thumb crushed the shell. I cleaned out the egg and washed the shell and it was paper thin. This morning, my husband came in and told me that she had laid another oddity. Where she had been sitting to lay, there was a yolk on the ground, the shell(?) was cork screwed out of the chicken's rear end, but still attached to her. He reached in and held onto the shell(?) and it came right out of her. She acts fine, she eats runs around and drinks. Her feathers look neat and groomed. She isn't ragged or dirty, and she isn't listless. We have oyster shell in the coop, we have begun feeding them goats milk (a friend in a nearby town swears that her chickens lay 2 eggs a day by feeding them the goats milk. She has 6 chickens and says she gets 12 eggs a day). I think that this hen is older than the others and we should have chicken soup. My husband thinks that she needs more calcium and will be fine. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions? What should we do to help her or should we just eat her? Thanks, Yay Chicks, I grew up on a farm (I know that doesn't make me an expert) and mom always cleaned and broke/crushed the shells and feed them back to the hens. (I never knew why nor asked, I just did it cuz mom did). Mom told me that older hens can have problems with soft eggs. That they have difficulty absorbing calcium as they get older hense the soft eggs. Her solution Chicken noodle soup.
First, let me say Your hen may need more calcium and just doesn't prefer oyster shell. You can clean and grind up the egg shells and feed them back and she may prefer those. The calcium from the goats milk is probably not a bad idea either. Sometimes, the problem is genetic. Sometimes very young layers will lay soft shells for a while and then grow out of it. I don't know if it is a tendency contributable to older layers. Good luck!
Welcome to BYC. I agree with Yay Chicks! You can also add about 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (ACV) to a gallon of water. ACV helps with calcium absorption.
Hello and welcome from So Cal! That's good advice about the crushed egg shells and ACV. Is she being fed layer feed as well? It has extra calcium in it that might help. You could try posting your question in " Chicken Behaviors and Egg Laying" and see if this is common to older hens. Good luck!
Welcome to BackYardChickens. Are your birds getting any greens? Fresh grass, spinach, kale, collards etc., are all good sources of calcium. You can also check out the following website on egg defects: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs God luck
Hi and welcome to byc. I haven't been a member for very long and haven'treally gotten intothe computer thing a whole lot but am having fun trying to figure it out .I just acquired a standard blue cochin hen and the first egg she laid was a soft shell. After the first one all the rest have been fine. I have a cochin rooster as well and a plymouth rock hen .I've never tried feeding back crushed egg shells. Sounds like a great idea. Gramps
