Hen lets go of egg when I lay her on her back

[R_V]

Normal or not?

I had a hen flipped on her back and tucked under my arm for her weekly parasite check-up and noticed her vent was wet with something sticky. I set her down to see if maybe she had just taken a poop only to find that an egg with no shell had escaped her vent. Is this normal? Did I stress her out hence the underveloped egg? She's the most skittish hen I have. Does not like to be touched at all. Attached is a picture of what kind of egg came out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Has she ever laid soft eggs before? I suppose it's not impossible that she was so upset at being handled that she just "let go."

 

[R_V]

Has she ever laid soft eggs before? I suppose it's not impossible that she was so upset at being handled that she just "let go."

If I ever do find a soft egg, she's the one that makes them. If this a trend, is there cause for concern about that, too?

 

[rosemarythyme]

What kind of feed do you use (layer, all flock, etc?) I assume there's oyster shells available? If so, do you know if she eats them?

Since you know she specifically lays soft eggs, you could try directly supplementing her. Some people use calcium tablets or even Tums. I just mix oyster shell into a very small dish of wet/fermented feed and offer it to the bird that way, 2-3 times a week (I use my brooder to lock the bird in with the food, a dog crate or something similar would work too). Might be easier on her since she doesn't like being handled to try it supplementing via feed.

 

[R_V]

What kind of feed do you use (layer, all flock, etc?) I assume there's oyster shells available? If so, do you know if she eats them?

Since you know she specifically lays soft eggs, you could try directly supplementing her. Some people use calcium tablets or even Tums. I just mix oyster shell into a very small dish of wet/fermented feed and offer it to the bird that way, 2-3 times a week (I use my brooder to lock the bird in with the food, a dog crate or something similar would work too). Might be easier on her since she doesn't like being handled to try it supplementing via feed.

Layer pellets. She has both oyster shells and crushed up egg shells offered to her. I know she'll take nibbles out of the crushed up egg shells but not quite sure any of my hens go for the oyster shells. I'll keep an eye out on her in the coming days. Thank you.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If she's eating the eggshells or oyster then it could possibly be a shell gland issue, but I'd try supplementing first and see if there's any improvement. If there is, you should see results pretty soon, within a week or two.