laying half soft shelled eggs?? UPDATE, not good.

[casportpony]

Give more calcium, at least 500mg and see if that helps.

 

[Weasleymum]

Well, that still sounds better than the earlier eggs! Maybe she's working through whatever it was?

 

[casportpony]

Both of my BBW turkeys were doing the same until I started them on oral calcium. Now they each get 2000mg whenever they look like they might be struggling to lay.

 

[LindsayB]

Since shes always had problems, should I just give her a calcium pill twice a week or so? That way she doesn't have anymore soft eggs that may break inside of her.

 

[casportpony]

Not sure I'd do it on a regular basis... Too much calcium and/or an improper calcium to phosphorus ratio can cause gout in poultry. Just keep lots of fresh lay pellets/crumble and oyster shell out for her and give her calcium every few days until her shells return to normal. That's what I would do.

You might also want to look into feeding greens that are high in calcium.

 

[LearningChicken]

I have a hen who is laying soft shells, but I am new at this. She has is still young , about 5 months and has laid 6 soft shelled eggs so far in the last two weeks. Usually 2 each time she lays. I am not even sure who is laying the softies! So I have a few questions:

1. How do I figure out who is laying these? (I have 6 girls and they NEVER lay in front of anyone - they are shy!

)
2. Should I separate her from the flock?
3. I gave Oyster Shells - should I also do the calcium?

(I am feeding grower crumble because I have babies too and the oyster shells freely.)

Thank you for your help!

 

[LindsayB]

Well I have another update, a much better one! I'm still only getting an egg from her about twice a week but the eggs she lays have a hard shell now. Not as hard as the other hen's but its good enough. She doesn't seem to have any trouble laying an egg either. I guess I'll just have to watch her closely and if her eggs start to get thin I'll pop her a calcium pill. Thank ya'll for helping me out and answering my questions!

 

[casportpony]

Thanks for the update!

 

[LindsayB]

ugh...She's layed 2 soft shelled eggs since the last post and one egg with no shell this morning. I gave her another calcium pill 2 days ago and I've been giving her some of my greek yogurt every morning. I think it may be time to cull her, something is definitely up with her system.

 

[2manychkns]

I would definitely think about culling her. I have about 33 laying hens (not including 20+ young pullets) and I have one hen that I cannot identify that lays a very soft shelled egg about 3 times a week. They never make it out of the nest box before being broken (and eaten by somebody). It's just a big, nasty mess to clean up. They all get adequate amounts of protein and calcium, are free ranged half the day and get scraps from us. I don't think it's nutritional. I suspect something's not right internally and it will end up being an internal laying scenario.

Any ideas how I can identify the culprit?