Leghorn only laying fart eggs or soft shelled eggs!

[tamtam84]

I've been having an issue with my white leghorn, Chickabod for several weeks now. She will be 3 this August. Up until about a month or 6 weeks ago, she was laying wonderfully. I noticed for at least 10 days in a row I got perfect eggs from her. Then, she laid 2 fart eggs 2 days in a row. I've gotten fart eggs from her in the past (she's my only hen to ever lay fart eggs) but never two days in a row. Then after the fart eggs, she didn't lay for over a week and I started to get nervous. I noticed maybe a week and a half after the fart eggs, she laid a soft shelled egg. Since then she has laid 2 more soft shelled eggs and still hasn't laid a regular egg since.

I was thinking she would just sort it out on her own and gave her some time, but a few days ago she began to get lethargic (totally unlike her) and had a very poopy butt. I've been giving her poly-vi-sol the past couple days and gave her some yogurt a couple days ago. I was giving them BOSS quite a bit, so I stopped that and other treats about a week ago so for over a week she has only gotten her feed and the yogurt. I have been putting oyster shells directly in their food for about the past 3 months. I give fresh water daily (we have a well) with ACV.

Last night my husband and I brought her in and soaked her for about 20 mins in warm soapy water just in case she was eggbound and also to get the caked up poop off her butt.



I used it as an excuse to cuddle while I was drying her off



The only other thing I have noticed about Chickabod is when she was soaking, there were flat, brown bugs walking along the top of her feathers. They were bigger than lice or mites, so I don't know what they were. Almost like with her getting wet they were trying to head to dry land. About 3 months ago I removed all pine shavings from their coop and cleaned it from top to bottom. I sprinkled in lots of DE on the floor, walls, roosts, nesting boxes, added new pine shavings, then sprinkled some more DE on top. Maybe I need to clean the coop out again? I haven't noticed those bugs on any of my other chickens. I guess I could dust her with DE.

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to get in all the pertinent info! I'm dealing with internal laying with my hen Buttercup right now (https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/638821/ascites-swollen-squishy-abdomen-with-pics) and had another hen, Penguin, die of internal laying a few months ago. I don't know why they are starting to have all these egg laying issues now except for the fact that they will all be 3 this August and I've noticed other posters having laying issues with their girls at around 2 - 3 years of age.

If anyone has dealt with this or knows of something else I should be doing to stop the soft shelled eggs please let me know!!! Thanks so much!!!

Tammy

 

[tamtam84]

Still no eggs from Chickabod. I got the suggestion from arkansaschicks to give her a crushed up tums in cottage cheese. I did that yesterday and will keep doing it for a while just to make sure she's getting extra calcium. She seems ok, not too lethargic, so hopefully it's just a matter of building her calcium levels back up.

I guess with older chickens they need a lot more calcium? She's not really all that old, almost 3 years old, but she's no spring chicken anymore either

 

[arkansaschicks]

So did she like the cottage cheese and Tums? Just hang in there it might take several days. I hear you on 3 isn't that old
I don't like all these problems coming up. My original 12 all just turned 3.

 

[NovaAman]

Well, I hope that she starts laying normal for you soon. Are the bugs gone off of her? If not, you may need to treat them for that... I lost one of my best layers to repro problems. Started out with an egg being bound, then soft shells, then broken inside soft shells, to internal laying and EYP... Was so hard, cuz I tried everything, but she just ended up with an irreversible glitch...

 

[she'scountry68]

What is a fart egg?

 

[Pele]

A fart egg is a yolk-less egg. Just a tiny one with only eggwhite.

I would say that your hen may have a parasite infection, and I would definitely get more aggressive with treating her. Dust her with Sevin (and the bedding the coop). Continue with yogurt, and maybe add egg in there just in case she's off her feed (chickens can't resist a good scrambled egg, even when they refuse everything else).

Good luck with her.

 

[tamtam84]

arkansaschicks - She didn't go crazy over the cottage cheese like I thought she would. Maybe I'll try it in yogurt next time because she loves that. I'm getting tired of my girls having all these egg problems! Seems like 2 1/2 - 3 yrs is when stuff starts to happen with their reproductive cycle. I wonder how people have chickens who live to be 8 or 10!

NovaAman - I haven't seen any bugs at all on her or the other hens. So sorry about your loss. Seems like a lot of people have to deal with issues like this. It's definitely a sad situation when there's nothing you can do to help them.

she'scountry68 - This is one of Chickabod's fart eggs next to one of her normal eggs. They are so tiny and really cute actually haha. No yolk, just a tiny bit of white inside.



Pele - Thanks for your input. I'll definitely dust her and clean the coop. Good idea on adding egg to her yogurt. She is eating and drinking like normal, and actually has perked up a bit in the last few days despite no eggs. Just playing the waiting game now I suppose.

Thanks everyone for your advice and thoughts!!!

 

[arkansaschicks]

Isn't this frustrating. I would be so nice to have all the answers!! That is why we are here...to help each other by throwing a bunch of ideas out and hopefully something will work
If she doesn't like the cottage then try some instant oatmeal with buttermilk and crushed up tums.She just needs to get it everyday to get it in her system.
Have you wormed lately? That could make her not want to lay eggs.

 

[tamtam84]

I know! It seems like every case is different and it's just a lot of trial and error to figure out what works! At least I can get lots more ideas on here to try!

Good idea on the oatmeal. She loooooves oatmeal so that would probably be a great option. I'll try that tonight. No, I haven't wormed lately. Haven't ever wormed my flock, actually. Is that something you do on a regular basis or just if you notice a problem?

 

[arkansaschicks]

I didn't worm them for the first 2 years I had them because I never saw any worms. One time that I took one of my chickens to the vet, He was looking at her poop for an infection and told me he saw worm eggs. He said if you see worms in their poop sometimes then its too late. He told me to worm every 6 months. If you have never wormed then you would need to start out with the low dosage stuff like Wazine and then move to something stronger. I rotate between Safeguard and Ivermectin pour-on. Worms can cause them to quit laying. Only thing is when you worm them you can't eat the eggs. I feed mine back to the chickens. Lots of mixed feelings on that cause some people say its not good to feed back to them and you should toss them. I would say read up on some worming threads or start a new one because I don't know about Buttercup. I would be interested to see if people would say to worm her or not while she has the fluid.