Internal Laying?

[5lovelyhens]

Okay so I've had this worry about my ameraucana since last December. She layed a super soft shelled egg that broke in my hands when I picked it up. Then not too long after, she pooped out an eggy substance. The vet said she was just at the end of her laying cycle. She layed a couple eggs after that throughout January and then she went through a molt and stopped laying. Now that summer has started, she has been laying almost everyday. Yesterday she layed two eggs. One of them was fine, and the other was super soft-shelled. She also randomly has days where she acts sick and then the next day she's fine. We give her oyster shells and she's almost 2 years old. Any idea what on earth this is?

 

[5lovelyhens]

Like somedays she has a penguin stance, won't move, won't eat, closing her eyes. Then the next day she's running around with her sisters and acting fine. That will usually happen 2-3 days a month. I don't get what's going on

 

[orrpeople]

I had the same problem with my golden sex links. It sounds like your girl is a pretty productive gal and that second egg (softie) doesn't have anything to do with calcium intake, she simply has only enough calcium for one egg each day (normal). What was recommended to me, and has worked quite well,is limiting protein intake a bit. The extra protein in her diet is giving her the ability to make 2 eggs. I did this by adding scratch grains into the regular laying pellet diet, and no more mealworm bedtime snacks! I also found that a lot of the backyard chicken folks have had this same problem - usually with higher production birds - and it was a relief to know I was just feeding them too well!