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???

 

[Perris]

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 don't say how old she is or how long she's been laying.

I had one do this right through her first year, and I very nearly culled her because I was worried it would lead to egg eating in the flock. But I didn't, and it didn't (it probably helped that I poo pick every morning and cleared it away quickly), and she is now in her 7th year, has been laying good eggs since her second year, is mother to several daughters and a son or two, and is my favourite hen. I don't know what the problem with her shell gland was, but it resolved itself with time. So maybe just wait and see?

And offer the oyster shell and other calcium sources in a separate bowl, rather than adding it to the feed?

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, try giving her daily doses of calcium citrate for roughly 1-2 weeks and see if that makes any difference.

If additional calcium does not help then yes it's likely a shelling gland issue and she can't process calcium correctly or form shells correctly, so no amount of supplementing will help.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

How do I get calcium citrate tablets? Do they mix in with her food?

You just pop it in her beak, she'll swallow it

 

[rosemarythyme]

How do I get calcium citrate tablets? Do they mix in with her food?

You just pop it in her beak, she'll swallow it

^ This. And the tablets are the ones for humans that you can pick up at any drugstore or supermarket, there's different dosages but I've seen folks use everything from 300mg to 600mg and it all seems to work fine.

 

[nuthatched]

Some birds have faulty shell glands, there may be nothing to do, unfortunately.

 

[easteregges]

If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, try giving her daily doses of calcium citrate for roughly 1-2 weeks and see if that makes any difference.

If additional calcium does not help then yes it's likely a shelling gland issue and she can't process calcium correctly or form shells correctly, so no amount of supplementing will help.

Thank you.

 

[easteregges]

If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, try giving her daily doses of calcium citrate for roughly 1-2 weeks and see if that makes any difference.

If additional calcium does not help then yes it's likely a shelling gland issue and she can't process calcium correctly or form shells correctly, so no amount of supplementing will help.

Ok, thank you. I will try giving her calium citrate.

 

[Mygooseandrooster]

You don't mention if you've seen the bird in question actually eating the oyster shell.

Exactly! I don’t think she is eating them How to make her eat them?

 

[Mygooseandrooster]

Have you tried offering some crushed egg shell as well, either separate or mixed in with the oyster? Some birds prefer one over the other so it might encourage them to take some if there's both options available.

Yes, we actually have both readily available.