leg horn laid a soft broken egg today... help

[RichtmanRanch]

Pearl is a leg horn (really a California white) and is about 1.5 years old. Has never had a major molt and has been laying fine for some time, over a year. This fall when it started getting cold she started to lay about every other day. Some of my other hens did too, so I didnt think much about it. Plus we have a light that comes on at 5am to help with laying.

I noticed in the last two weeks she as started to lay about every two days now. However today another chicken of mine came running out of the coop caring pearls broken egg in her beak. And if i think about it the last time she layed an egg was probably thursday or friday and now here we are on monday.

I believe her overall behavior seems normal, eating drinking pooping with out issue. I cleaned of the shelf under there perch just to monitor how much she poops over night. they also have grit and oyster shells dispersed in their grain hopper.

SO here is my question. What is going on with her? How serious is this? I have never had any issues like this in the past, but this is only my second year with chickens. I read a pervious thread saying to flush her vent with vinegar and water. I will need to run to the store to get some. Is this a death sentence for her? how can I help her? Can this just happen every now and again? Does she have cooked egg inside her now? Just worried, having not dealt with this ever. Any advice/guidance would be great!

Thank you!!!

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

Subscribing...i recently had a few broken eggs with really weak shells.

 

[aart]

Relax......It's not unusual for an occasional soft shelled egg to happen.

I wouldn't flush her vent just yet...that might only make the problem worse by stressing her out with an unnecessary treatment.

Are you mixing the oyster shell in with the feed?
Best to have it always available in a separate container so they can take what they need when they need it.

What and how are you feeding exactly?

 

[islandgirl82]

Here's a great article on egg abnormalities and the causes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[RichtmanRanch]

Thanks for the link, it was a good read. I didn't actually see her lay the egg, but the shell was broken. So I dont know if she laid a soft shelled egg and the other hen got it and it broke or if she pooped it out already broken. She was in the nest box today for at least a half hour maybe more. But she did not lay an egg today. If she doesn't lay one tomorrow I may start to be more concerned. I mixed more oyster shells in with their food today. The article also said a cause my be exposure to extreme heat. I did put a bigger 150 watt heat bulb in the coop over the weekend. The used to have a 60 watt. Dropped down into the single digits in MN. So the coop is now at about 45-50 degrees. But I wouldn't consider that extreme, seeing how we had temps in the low 90's this past summer.

 

[RichtmanRanch]

Thanks for the reassuring advice aart. I didn't flush her vent today, wanted to see how the day went, but maybe if I did decide to the damage would already be done. I mix in grit and oyster shells into their layer rations. it probably makes up 10% of the total mix, but I did put out some free choice oyster shells today. Would feeding them yogurt help with calcium levels at all or does it not work the same as it would for humans?

 

[RichtmanRanch]

Soooo. It took a few days but she laid and egg. It was a bit bigger than normal. But glad to see she is laying again. On closer inspection. I realized I never fixed the timer on out light with day lights saving time. So they were only getting about 11 hours if light. Probably why all the girls are laying inconsistently. So I fixed that. So hopefully it will all balance out now!