Just membranes for 2months now!

[Worleyfarm]

our red sexlink started laying shell-less eggs after Halloween. After her third one I spoke with vet and since she was just 8 months old she said it takes time for their bodies “to figure it out”. Well it’s been two months and she still lays them! She will get in nesting box and then go in driveway or flowerbed and lay her membrane! She is healthy happy beautiful big red comb and waddles! We feed a great food and lots of oyster shells and even all our egg shells we feed back to them. All our other hens lay just fine no problems. She had been laying great for over a month before this all started. Anyone else have this issue? How long does it take her body “to figure it out”??

 

[ChickNanny13]

Interesting .... Do you feed "treats"? Is she being bullied? Did you rehome or add to your flock? Did something within the flock, conditions, routine, anything a few weeks prior to pullet laying shell less eggs?

 

[azygous]

She likely has a calcium absorption issue. Oyster shell is calcium carbonate and may not be as easily absorbed by some hens as calcium citrate or calcium gluconate. The remedy is to give her one of these as a supplement each day until she lays normal eggs again.

In my experience with hens with this problem, a shell-less egg "feels" different to them than a hard shell egg. A lot of the time, they expel it from their roosting perch during the night or early morning or they leave it in the middle of the run like a pile of poop because that's probably what it feels like.

A soft shell or shell-less egg can also be dangerous for the hen. These flawed eggs are more likely to get stuck in the reproductive track and/or collapse inside the hen which is disastrous. She should be mostly through that stage now where her body is adjusting to laying. I wouldn't waste any more time waiting for the problem to self correct.

 

[Worleyfarm]

to chicknanny 13....nothing has changed! she is one of my dominant hens! our routine has not changed nor have we added. We did loose 3 chickens to coyotes but that was in july. They actually got onto the property beside us which is very wooded. She was not part of the group that went over there. We had 5 go over and only got 2 back
We added 2 chickens a few weeks later they were 4 months old and we slowly introduced them and everything was fine. She was not laying yet when this all happened and started laying shortly after we got the 2 babies. her eggs were fine until the first of november.

to azygous.... i will get one of these supplements and try it. only a few times have we found a membrane on the ground under her roost. its weird because she will only do this 1-2 times a week. But we do not get a normal egg either. so her body isn't making the egg like it should. we should get 4-5 eggs a week out of her (from what i know about sexlinks).
Thanks so much for the replies! i appreciate y'all!

 

[aart]

Unfortunately, she's likely a 'lemon'.

 

[ChickNanny13]

 

[Worleyfarm]

i found calcium citrate finally! it is 1000mg per capsule. how much shall i give her? i figure i would only do a tine sprinkle on a treat (eggs or fruit). i have tried researching it and i cannot find any dosage listings.

Thanks!

 

[azygous]

I'd cut them in half. You will see when she's had enough. Her eggs will begin to show the pebbly calcium deposits on the shell. Don't continue after you see that.

I have a hen that has a big problem with laying two eggs at a time. Contrary to what a lot of people think, this isn't a good thing. Last spring it took many weeks of daily calcium to get this ironed out. She eventually started laying one egg at a time, but she had been on calcium for so long that her eggs were covered in bumps.

This year, it appears she may have snapped out of it sooner. I have only had to give her two doses and she laid a single smooth egg this morning.

So calcium works for lots of different reproductive issues. Don't hesitate to start a hen on it the minute you discover she's having any kind of laying issue.

 

[RumneyRoost]

I've been having a similar problem, I've gotten about 6 shell-less eggs in the last two weeks. Only 3 of my girls are laying right now, I think it's one of the cream leg bars who was slower to mature.
The cream legbar was consistently giving me 4-5 eggs per week and then just after Christmas is dropped to virtually nothing, other than the rubber eggs.
Yesterday she was quite vocal when I was cleaning the coop, she sat in the nest box for a bit but no egg. This morning I noticed a shell-less egg in a random place, it was frozen so I suspect she laid it yesterday and I just didn't notice it last night.

I don't feed a layer feed as I've got one younger pullet and one moulting hen who aren't laying. They've always had oyster shells on the side.
I think I'll try giving her some crushed up tums today. I think I'll pick up some calcium citrate too, see if she has an easier time absorbing it.