How many would cull a hen with a defective shell gland?

[gritsar]

I'm fairly certain that my one silkie, Ellie Mae, has a defective shell gland. She is very healthy, but lays nothing but what I call jelly eggs (shell-less eggs). I've wondered if this may have something to do with the fact that she's never gone broody, whereas my other silkie of the same age stays broody.

I don't sell my bantam girls eggs anyhow, keeping them for family and our use.

No reason to cull her right?

 

[hcppam]

Right. As long as she is doing good, no reason to kill her.

 

[jershell99]

I guess it depends on why you are raising chickens. I am struggling with the same question with similar issue with one of our hens. She laid two shell-less eggs in June and has not laid since.
I am raising hens for eggs and roosters for meat. A hen laying shell-less or no eggs is no better to my purposes than a rooster, so I am considering culling her. I am sure others have struggled with this same decision, and I have till Saturday morning (rooster freezer camp time) to make up my mind.

 

[they'reHISchickens]

We culled a hen who laid defective eggs. Actually, we found her a home with someone who needed a free range tick eater.
We will be culling two older hens who are not laying well. We need to get numbers down before winter and they are older and since we know who lays what, they are on the no-fly list. We will miss them but our coop is only so big!

 

[al6517]

I had a hen not long ago that had a bad problem with laying no shell eggs almost everyday, she was culled soon after I found that her eggs were contributing to the other hen's being egg eaters. I can't have egg eaters and won't tolerate them, plus if she can't lay eggs that can be eatin or hatched she is just wasting feed and wasting my time and $$, she had to go fast.

 

[gritsar]

Thanks for the input.

 

[Beekissed]

I would cull.

 

[Iheartchicks<3:)]

It offends me that people would cull. Thats like killing a person for being infertile. Sorry, im just an activist i guess XD

 

[flowerchild59]

I would cull simply for the reason that feed is getting so expensive and if it is contributing to teaching the others to be egg eaters, then she needs to go bye bye or culled.

 

[Beekissed]

Iheartchicks<3

:

It offends me that people would cull. Thats like killing a person for being infertile. Sorry, im just an activist i guess XD

It offends me when people equate chickens with people. Chickens are first and foremost food animals and one cannot continue to support nonproducing animals on mere sympathy and warm fuzzies....some of us have families to support with the money and every penny counts. As does every single egg.​