Hen laying soft shelled eggs constantly!!!

[easteregges]

I have a Hen that is constantly laying soft-shelled eggs at night! I have a total of nine hens and she is the only one that has this problem. All the other hens have nice and healthy eggs. They have a 20% protein feed that i add ground-up oyster shell to. They also have a trough with regular oyster shells that is always available, and I also add broken-up eggshell to it too. What can I do???

 

[TooCheep]

Just for more info, if receiving a balanced fresh chicken feed, chickens will get plenty of vitamin E. If feed gets old, vitamin e can leech out of it. Foods high in E are sunflower kernels, crushed almonds, or peanuts.

I agree that calcium/Vitamin D should be the first option, but don't doubt my veracity. I use a quality, fresh feed- Nutrena Hearty Hen and later Nutrena All Flock and have had good success with my girls for 7 years before running into a soft shell problem. Vitamin E was an excellent solution, but it doesn't have the same track record as calcium, so I recommend it as a second option only.

 

[CloneFly]

I have a Hen that is constantly laying soft-shelled eggs at night! I have a total of nine hens and she is the only one that has this problem. All the other hens have nice and healthy eggs. They have a 20% protein feed that i add ground-up oyster shell to. They also have a trough with regular oyster shells that is always available, and I also add broken-up eggshell to it too. What can I do???

You need to manually give her a calcium supplement. @Eggcessive

Some hens just won't eat their oyster shells no matter what

 

[Eggcessive]

If you know which one it is, try giving her a human calcium citrate tablet with vitamin D 3 tablet orally daily for the next 7 days. Tums or other calcium would work until you get the generic tablet. She might have a problem with her shell gland, but this will rule out an calcium deficiency.Are you using an all flock feed, not a layer feed? Layer has 4 times the amount of calcium in it than all flock. It is better to put crushed oyster shell in a separate container than feed. That way each hen takes it is she needs it.

 

[TooCheep]

I'll support the others as a first line solution. If it doesn't work, please ping me. I had a similar problem, but my girl reacted immediately to Vitamin E supplementation.

 

[TooCheep]

Hello, what vitamin E supplement did you use?

Here is what I put in another thread on the subject:

I'll offer an alternative solution that might work and won't have long-term problems. I have a hen that has never laid good shells naturally. She started with soft-shelled eggs even though I've seen her eating oyster shell. I take a Vitamin E gelcap (400 IU) and mix the oil into my small flock's daily fermented feed ration. It took 2 days for her shells to become normal. I tried removing the Vitamin E after a while, but it took 2-3 days for her soft shells to come back.

My hen obviously has some issue around Vitamin E deficiency. The supplement when divided among my 7 chickens is within safe levels and I'm sure at least some of it ends up in the eggs as further nutrition for anyone consuming them.

I've never had to offer any special calcium/Vitamin D3 supplement beyond crushed egg shell and oyster shell.

About individual dosing:

Since mine are sharing a common feeder, I'm sure it varies. Also, I can't get 100% of the oil out of the gelcaps. I'd estimate that she gets 300-350 IU/7 birds = 43-50 IU/day/bird.

I just checked and you can get bottles of Vitamin E oil. They come in different concentrations, but the one I looked at comes to about 60 IU/drop. That should be an easy solution if you just want to dose a single bird.

 

[easteregges]

I wouldn't do both of them at once. It is best to go with the minimum solution possible. Select one and test it. If it works, you won't need the other.

Ok, thank you. I'll start with the vitamin E oil and see if it works.

 

[Eggcessive]

You really should start some calcium now. I recommend calcium citrate with D3, and the generic Equate brand is under $9 at Walmart. That will help the soft egg problem if she has a calcium deficiency. If that does not help after 7 days dose, it could be a shell gland (oviduct) problem. The vitamin E could increase laying, but now the problem is the soft shells. Equate also sell E400 IU for $9. Generic vitamins are fine and will reduce the cost.

 

[easteregges]

You really should start some calcium now. I recommend calcium citrate with D3, and the generic Equate brand is under $9 at Walmart. That will help the soft egg problem if she has a calcium deficiency. If that does not help after 7 days dose, it could be a shell gland (oviduct) problem. The vitamin E could increase laying, but now the problem is the soft shells. Equate also sell E400 IU for $9. Generic vitamins are fine and will reduce the cost.

Thank you, yes I'm going to buy some Calcium Citrate and D 3 today along with the vitamin E oil. Thank you again for your help.

 

[Eggcessive]

Just for more info, if receiving a balanced fresh chicken feed, chickens will get plenty of vitamin E. If feed gets old, vitamin e can leech out of it. Foods high in E are sunflower kernels, crushed almonds, or peanuts.