Hen laying very rough eggs

[yomama]

I have a 1 1/2 year old RIR hen. I have had her for 6 months. She has always laid an egg a day. I have noticed that over time, the shell of the eggs she lays are becoming more and more rough. They almost feel like sandpaper! Just for reference, she eats 16% layer feed, has oyster shell available, and free ranges during the day. She is a very fat and happy hen. Here are the best pics I could get. They are both the same egg, just one pic came out really light.
There is no debris on those eggs. All the bumps and specks are part of the eggshell. What look like "dots of color" are rough, raised specks. Any idea what could cause this?
Thanks!

 

[faykokoWV]

I'm curious to know the answer to this myself. I have an australorp that did this. Her eggs got rougher prgressively for about 2 months, then she went into molt and hasn't layed an egg in about 3 month. She's just now coming out of the molt. I don't know if the two are related or not.

 

[newchicksnducks]

I believe that the bumps are excess calcium deposits. I have two EE's. I can always tell who laid which egg due to bumps on the small end of one egg always coming from my one EE.

 

[12GAGirl]

I also have two EE and one of my girls lays a rough egg most of the time. Sometimes her eggs are no rough but have tiny specks in the shell. Now, my other EE lays the prettiest smooth shelled eggs. My flock is on 16% layer, grit, oystr shell, treats, and scratch.
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[yomama]

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Sorry if this sounds naive, but does that mean she is getting too much calcium in her diet, or just something that happens to certain chickens?

 

[feathersnuggles]

I have the same problem. My hen, she'll be 1 year old at the beginning of May, had been laying perfect shelled eggs since October 2009. Then, over a month ago, she suddenly began laying gritty and wart-covered eggshells with these tiny excess "beads" of calcium that were sometimes easy to rub off and sometimes they were stuck. A couple weeks ago, she started dropping shell-less, membrane covered eggs, from the roost just before it got dark. It's like her shell gland stopped functioning or something. A few times she laid these rubber eggs (they bounce, sorta) in the nestbox and I grabbed them because they're perfectly good, inside. But, most of the time her rubber eggs were dropped from the roost and broke, giving the flock a field day with them. After 4 - 6 rubber eggs in a row, she laid another hard-shell (albeit very wart-covered) egg. Then she went through another week of rubber eggs, sometimes two per day. Recently, she has laid 2 hard (yet gritty and pimply) eggshells, 2 days in a row. I've got my fingers crossed that she'll get back to normal. But, I wish I knew what is her problem.

The rest of the flock lays smooth hard-shelled eggs. They are fed a good quality layer feed, with free-choice oyster shell in a dish in their run, always available. And they free-range about 5 hours per day, so they get grass, insects, and anything else (why, maple leaves, of course!) they choose to eat that grows in the yard.

Has anyone else had their hen return to laying normal shells, after something like this?

 

[Keri78]

happens here too once in a while