Hen drops eggs everywhere

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

My salmon favorelle does not use a nesting box, she just drops eggs wherever she wants to. I finally caught her on the camera doing it. This time, she walked up to the nesting boxes, looked both ways, did a little squat like she was pooping, and then walked away. It took 7 seconds. I often find them by the feeders or waterers, but also just in random places at the yard. The eggs are hard shelled and she seems healthy in every way. She has done this since she started laying about 4 months ago. She is 1 yr old. I have never seen her in a nesting box. Is this a problem? Is it ok to hatch her eggs? I do not want to bring unhealthy chickens into this world, but this seems OK. It seems very easy on her actually!

 

[Shadrach]

I did post but then realised that you may get no warning of her wanting to lay an egg.
I can't think of any reason why her eggs shouldn't be fine to hatch.

 

[aldarita]

I have a very similar problem with one of my hens, she is 5 years old. She started dropping eggs everywhere. She goes into the nesting box; stays there for a while and then flees the nest and drops the egg outside. Most of the time the eggs cracked and I have to discard them. I have no idea why she's doing it. It is a puzzle to me. I will be watching this post for answers

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

I’ve never had a cracked egg. Are your hens shells hard? Since my girl is only 1, that could be why they are hard. And Favorelles are pretty close to the ground too!

 

[aldarita]

My hen's eggshells are thin. Since she is almost 6 years old, I am not surprised. She lays about 2 or 3 eggs a week. She is an Easteregger. I always have a dish filled with crushed eggshells and oystershells. Also they eat BSL which have plenty of calcium.

 

[Dinosaur Village Keeper]

My hen's eggshells are thin. Since she is almost 6 years old, I am not surprised. She lays about 2 or 3 eggs a week. She is an Easteregger. I always have a dish filled with crushed eggshells and oystershells. Also they eat BSL which have plenty of calcium.

For my soft shelled girl, I would add about 1-2 tablespoons of dried rosemary to a quart sized jar of fermented food. That feeds a lot of chickens though! I noticed a significant difference from that. I slacked on it and deeply regret it as I recently lost her due to egg yolk peritonitis. A month later, I still miss my best girl so much. Anyways, it would appear that some chickens do not absorb calcium properly, so even though you are doing your best to provide it to her, her body still isn’t using it. They need to have it in a different form entirely. That was the point of the rosemary.

 

[aldarita]

I know what you mean. In my 11 years of keeping backyard chickens, I have had my share of hens with egg peritonitis. Some of them have been young just at the beginning of their laying life and some others at the end. Thanks for the tip about dry rosemary.
I have read a post by Asygous which I respect and follow (she has a lot of knowledge and experience) she recommends a calcium tablet of 500mg daily until the hen starts laying normal eggs. I thought it was going to be quite difficult to give them the big tablet but it turned out to be so easy, they actually swallow it, all you have to do is put it in their beak.
Yes, you are right. Some hens have reproductive issues from the get-go and we just try our best to help them, however sometimes it cannot be helped. Sorry about the loss of your best girl, It is always our favorite ones.