Mucous and blood covered soft egg?

[phatchicken]

Hello - I am not sure if this is anything to be worried about, but lately we have discovered several shell-less eggs - usually white, so I was assuming it was our Leghorn, but today I went out and discovered a softish brown egg covered with very viscous fluid and some blood. Since the discovery of the white shell-less eggs, the Leghorn has not layed but is acting 100% normal - should we be worried about that as well?
Thanks - Lynn

 

[swimmer]

Do you give them oyster shell? You can get some at IFA or Cal Ranch. Or if they are new to laying, the first ones are sometimes thin. When mine first started to lay, I got some thin ones at first. Also make sure they are getting the right layer food as well.

 

[CMV]

Do you offer free choice oyster shell? If not, you should start.

You need to establish if one hen is laying these eggs or not. If there is damage to the gland that creates the egg shell, then a hen is incapable of laying hard shelled eggs and should be culled. This is not a condition that will resolve itself and will result in the hens demise with laying problems. Soft shelled eggs are much more difficult to expel from the body because the body has no hard surface to push on in order to expel it. The hen will have problems and likely suffer until she dies from this problem. Chickens do not let it be apparent that they are suffering until they are so bad off that they can no longer hide it. At that point they have been suffering for a while or are on the verge of death.

I'd try to increase the calcium first. If you are still seeing soft shelled eggs regularly then I would look into the possibility of a defective shell gland in one of your hens. Let's just hope her problem can be resolved because the alternative... is much worse.

Good luck.