Hen with soft shelled eggs - possible molting at one year?

[vantain]

i have a few other posts about this one hen I have, that has been laying soft shelled eggs for a month now. It seems to be daily for a few days, then nothing for several days, then again. Repeat, and repeat. She gets lethargic, then eventually passes a soft shelled egg.

Today she is lethargic again, just standing in the corner with her eyes closed. She doesn’t fuss when I pick her up, and just quietly sits in my arms, essentially sleeping.

Let me preface the next statement with this: I have noticed a lot of feathes in both the run and coop.

I looked her over today in more detail, and noticed her vent area is bare. About the size of a golf ball. There appear to be some pin feathers there, and the shafts are a little bloody looking. The whole area looks a bit sore. Also, I found quite a few dark blue/black pin feather shafts on her neck area. Around 10 or more.

Is it possible this whole soft shelled episode is related to a mini molt or something? She is 1 year old.

I know, I’m just grasping for an explanation.

 

[vantain]

I just noticed one of the other hens pecking at the vent of the hen I am having issues with. So the bare patch there may be related to the pecking. Her vent area is a bit wet from her expelling, rather explosively, mostly water today. I’m pretty sure she has not been eating, but does appear to be drinking.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I was gonna say it sounds like pecking. I would separate her out before it becomes cannibalism.

What breed? And how old?

 

[vantain]

I was gonna say it sounds like pecking. I would separate her out before it becomes cannibalism.

What breed? And how old?

ISA Brown, 1 year old.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hybrid layers can suffer from reproductive problems unfortunately. They also can be prone to protein deficiencies if they are fed a layer and other things are given. In my experiences higher production hens need 18% protein to keep up that production. What are you feeding?

If she's consistently laying shell less eggs it could mean something is wrong with her shell gland. Do you offer oyster shells free choice? Shell less eggs can be from stress, and crowding as well. How much room do your birds have?

Laying eggs without shells is hard on a hen because there's no lubrication. They can prolapse, or internally lay the eggs. If that happens they can develop a deadly infection.

@Wyorp Rock , @Eggcessive , any ideas?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I looked her over today in more detail, and noticed her vent area is bare. About the size of a golf ball. There appear to be some pin feathers there, and the shafts are a little bloody looking. The whole area looks a bit sore. Also, I found quite a few dark blue/black pin feather shafts on her neck area. Around 10 or more.

I just noticed one of the other hens pecking at the vent of the hen I am having issues with.

I'm sorry that she is not doing any better.
Sounds like you have some feather picking going on as well. How much space do you have?
Stress can cause some laying issues too, watch your girls more closely, you may find that you need to change some things around - add more space, change feed, add another feeder, etc.

In your other threads that me and eggcessive helped you with, if I remember correctly, she seemed to perk up once she was separated, is that right? Could be a correlation between soft shelled egg and getting picked on - at least something to look into.

 

[Eggcessive]

Oh, I wondered how she was doing. Sorry that she is still having the same problem.I wonder if the others since something is wrong with her now, and they are pecking her vent. Can you feel anything solid under her vent? Are you still giving calcium without helping the shells be more normal?

 

[vantain]

Hybrid layers can suffer from reproductive problems unfortunately. They also can be prone to protein deficiencies if they are fed a layer and other things are given. In my experiences higher production hens need 18% protein to keep up that production. What are you feeding?

If she's consistently laying shell less eggs it could mean something is wrong with her shell gland. Do you offer oyster shells free choice? Shell less eggs can be from stress, and crowding as well. How much room do your birds have?

Laying eggs without shells is hard on a hen because there's no lubrication. They can prolapse, or internally lay the eggs. If that happens they can develop a deadly infection.

@Wyorp Rock , @Eggcessive , any ideas?

Wyorp Rock and Eggcessive were both very responsive on my other posts about this problem with this particular hen.

They are not free ranged. I have four hens, all eating Purina Layena, with grit and oyster shell as free choice.

They are not crowded. Coop is 4x6, and run is 8x8. Because I can, I will be extending their run another 6 feet sometime later this spring.

I don’t give them treats or extras very often. Maybe a small amount of meal worms or some scratch, once or twice a week.

For the hen in question, I have been giving her a crushed calcium (600mg) plus D3 (800IU) daily, with about a teaspoon of plain Greek yogurt and scrambled egg (1Tb) each morning. I do this mostly to give her a little more protein, and it gets her to eat the crushed tablet.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

She may just have something internal going on. Sometimes other birds will start to attack an odd acting bird. Glad you are familiar with wyorp rock and eggcessive they are great for helping people.

 

[vantain]

Oh, I wondered how she was doing. Sorry that she is still having the same problem.I wonder if the others since something is wrong with her now, and they are pecking her vent. Can you feel anything solid under her vent? Are you still giving calcium without helping the shells be more normal?

I am continuing to give her calcium, to no avail. She still has not layed a normal egg now in over a month. Only soft shelled messes. I don't feel anything solid under the vent area.

She does have a lot of pin feathers all around her body, like she is going through a mini molt. None of the other three hens have any noticeable pin feathers.

Note that I have started yet another thread about just the vent pecking issue now.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chickens-pecking-at-other-hens-vent.1302954/