Help! My 17 week old BO laid her 1st egg and they all were EATING it!!

[PirateGirl]

Phew! This post is making me feel a bit more at ease. I will hunt around for some egg shaped rocks today!

I wonder how long it will take them to lay eggs with shells?

Hopefully the next egg has a shell! Just make sure they have some oyster shell on the side that they can pick at. Feeding them their own eggshells back to them (when the time comes) can be helpful too.

 

[Mourgana]

T

Hopefully the next egg has a shell! Just make sure they have some oyster shell on the side that they can pick at. Feeding them their own eggshells back to them (when the time comes) can be helpful too.

Thank You! I've been giving them boiled egg with some egg shell mixed in the past couple days.

The hen I suspected laid the shelless egg has been walking around the past couple of days with her beak hanging open, going in and out of the nest box, squaking a lot, and throwing the hay around.

I looked at her vent today and she had some white mucusy fluid on her rear end!

Is that normal for a hen who's coming into her laying cycle? She will be 18 weeks old on Friday, a Buff O so she should be on the later side of the laying cycle.

I put in the fake brown ceramic eggs in the nest box today. I hope that will help give her the right idea!

 

[PirateGirl]

T

Thank You! I've been giving them boiled egg with some egg shell mixed in the past couple days.

The hen I suspected laid the shelless egg has been walking around the past couple of days with her beak hanging open, going in and out of the nest box, squaking a lot, and throwing the hay around.

I looked at her vent today and she had some white mucusy fluid on her rear end!

Is that normal for a hen who's coming into her laying cycle? She will be 18 weeks old on Friday, a Buff O so she should be on the later side of the laying cycle.

I put in the fake brown ceramic eggs in the nest box today. I hope that will help give her the right idea!

Umm... does the "white mucusy fluid" look like it could be egg white? or more like poop? This is NOT normal and it's possible she laid another shell-less egg or soft shell and the shell could still be inside her. Any way you can get a better look and possibly a photo? I'm going to tag a few people who may be able to offer more advice if it is really a laying problem @Eggcessive @Wyorp Rock

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you get some photos of the pullet and the white mucousy fluid that's on her vent?

 

[Eggcessive]

White urates is most likely the mucusy white vent material, and is kidney waste. Pictures would help. I would continue to feed your chick feed until it is used up, and just provide the crushed oyster shell and crushed egg shells so they will take what they need. Then you can either buy layer feed which has 4X the calcium, or give them all flock/flock raiser feed which has a larger crumble and is good for roosters, hens, and baby chicks to eat since it doesn’t have too much calcium. Layer has about 16% protein while flock raiser has 20%, and the higher protein can help if there is any feather picking. They also seem to prefer the higher protein feed, and it is best to use when you have chicks, or non-layers eating it as well as layers.

Make sure that your roost is higher than your nest boxes, and at night move the girls from the nests to the roost to train them to use those. Covering the nest boxes just for nighttime may help, and uncover them early in the morning. It is not uncommon for hatchery birds to start laying at 17 weeks, although many wait until 20-23 weeks. Each bird and breed varies.

 

[BjaJra826]

My hens eat shells when I re-feed them. After we eat eggs, I microwave the shells, crush them, and scatter them in their run. If they lay a thin-shelled egg and it cracks, then the egg is fair game as nothing gets wasted around chickens. I put golf balls in all our nesting boxes, and they occasionally peck them when young and then realize eggs arn't for eating. I worry if your hen is walking around with her mouth open. Mine only do that when distressed/injured/ill. Maybe put some apple cider vinegar in the water and some calcium sources in the food. Possibly might need medication as well. Best of luck to you!

 

[Mourgana]

Can you get some photos of the pullet and the white mucousy fluid that's on her vent?

Yes I can do that when I get home!!

Thank You so much!!

 

[Mourgana]

White urates is most likely the mucusy white vent material, and is kidney waste. Pictures would help. I would continue to feed your chick feed until it is used up, and just provide the crushed oyster shell and crushed egg shells so they will take what they need. Then you can either buy layer feed which has 4X the calcium, or give them all flock/flock raiser feed which has a larger crumble and is good for roosters, hens, and baby chicks to eat since it doesn’t have too much calcium. Layer has about 16% protein while flock raiser has 20%, and the higher protein can help if there is any feather picking. They also seem to prefer the higher protein feed, and it is best to use when you have chicks, or non-layers eating it as well as layers.

Make sure that your roost is higher than your nest boxes, and at night move the girls from the nests to the roost to train them to use those. Covering the nest boxes just for nighttime may help, and uncover them early in the morning. It is not uncommon for hatchery birds to start laying at 17 weeks, although many wait until 20-23 weeks. Each bird and breed varies.

My hens eat shells when I re-feed them. After we eat eggs, I microwave the shells, crush them, and scatter them in their run. If they lay a thin-shelled egg and it cracks, then the egg is fair game as nothing gets wasted around chickens. I put golf balls in all our nesting boxes, and they occasionally peck them when young and then realize eggs arn't for eating. I worry if your hen is walking around with her mouth open. Mine only do that when distressed/injured/ill. Maybe put some apple cider vinegar in the water and some calcium sources in the food. Possibly might need medication as well. Best of luck to you!

I am using a pre-built chicken coop. The roosting bars are fixated so I cannot change where they roost.
Although there is a roosting bar outside of the hen house that they all like to use, but cannot all fit on.
So 4 roost outside, and 2 inside.
I have to move them at night to make sure that they are safe from predators.

 

[ShannonR]

Totally off topic, but.... the OP said something about treating the coop for bed bugs? Is this a thing for chickens? Wildly curious.

Back on topic now... the shell-less egg is fairly normal in youngsters, so is their eating such eggs. What doesn't sound normal is the fluid coming from that chicken, could be a sign of a bigger issue.

 

[Mourgana]

My hens eat shells when I re-feed them. After we eat eggs, I microwave the shells, crush them, and scatter them in their run. If they lay a thin-shelled egg and it cracks, then the egg is fair game as nothing gets wasted around chickens. I put golf balls in all our nesting boxes, and they occasionally peck them when young and then realize eggs arn't for eating. I worry if your hen is walking around with her mouth open. Mine only do that when distressed/injured/ill. Maybe put some apple cider vinegar in the water and some calcium sources in the food. Possibly might need medication as well. Best of luck to you!

I have been giving them apple cider vinegar and crushed egg shells.

I will keep an eye on her, today she seemed to be doing better, but it's cloudy/rainy today so it may be weather related?