HeatherlyHash

In the Brooder
Jan 3, 2019
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Hi all! My first chickens are close to 9 months old now, and one of my hens has consistently been laying slab eggs. She is usually a daily layer, but for the past 2-3 weeks she has seemed to be skipping laying on some days and then laying 2 eggs the next day. I've gotten somewhere between 6 and 8 slab eggs in this time. I want to be happy that she is so productive, but I worry about serious, underlying issues. They get layer feed from a local feed store, scratch from the same place, and also free range daily. The hen in question acts completely normal other than laying extra eggies. Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do to help regulate her? I have an idea of which hen is doing this but the slab eggs don't quite match any of the others, so it is kind of hard to tell.

The two bottom eggs are slab eggs, and I believe they are coming from the same chicken who laid the middle top egg based off of paying attention to their laying patterns. I only have 4 layers so I generally know which eggs come from who.

Edit: top 3 eggs are my "normal" eggs from my girls (plus one white layer not pictured)
 

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9 months old now, and one of my hens has consistently been laying slab eggs. She is usually a daily layer, but for the past 2-3 weeks she has seemed to be skipping laying on some days and then laying 2 eggs the next day. I've gotten somewhere between 6 and 8 slab eggs in this time.

layer feed from a local feed store, scratch from the same place, and also free range daily. The hen in question acts completely normal other than laying extra eggies. Should I be concerned?

Any stressors within the flock? Rooster chasing/overmating, hens picking at one another?
Is this girl getting chased away from nesting boxes, kept from food, anything like that?

Slab sided eggs are more commonly seen in pullets that have just come into lay. The egg is held over for an extra day in the shell gland and another egg is coming into contact with that egg. Or that's how I understand it.
Age and stress seems to be a common factor, but viral disease could be a contributor as well.

How much scratch do they get?
 
Any stressors within the flock? Rooster chasing/overmating, hens picking at one another?
Is this girl getting chased away from nesting boxes, kept from food, anything like that?

Slab sided eggs are more commonly seen in pullets that have just come into lay. The egg is held over for an extra day in the shell gland and another egg is coming into contact with that egg. Or that's how I understand it.
Age and stress seems to be a common factor, but viral disease could be a contributor as well.

How much scratch do they get?

She could be stressed from mating. I have 1 roo to my 4 hens right now and her feathers are worn more than the other girls. I also have 6 babies that I have been slowly Introducing over the past few weeks. I've been bringing them out for 30 minutes or so at a time to socialize through the run. The older chickens do not seem happy about this, but like I said it's only for a few minutes at a time. Would that be causing extra stress?

I have 5 adults that get roughly 2 handfuls of scratch per day combined.(and I have small hands, lol) I did just switch to the feed store's scratch, and I'm realizing it's mostly cracked corn and they do not really care for it. I'm probably not going to buy that anymore after this bag is done.
 
She could be stressed from mating. I have 1 roo to my 4 hens right now and her feathers are worn more than the other girls. I also have 6 babies that I have been slowly Introducing over the past few weeks. I've been bringing them out for 30 minutes or so at a time to socialize through the run. The older chickens do not seem happy about this, but like I said it's only for a few minutes at a time. Would that be causing extra stress?

I have 5 adults that get roughly 2 handfuls of scratch per day combined.(and I have small hands, lol) I did just switch to the feed store's scratch, and I'm realizing it's mostly cracked corn and they do not really care for it. I'm probably not going to buy that anymore after this bag is done.
Could be the rooster causing some stress. Is he the same age - 9months? They can be immature at that age (some never seem to grow up no matter how old), watch to see if he's harassing her or she is not accepting his advances.

@azygous is very good with integration tips, but you got that right, none of my older girls ever seem too happy to see "new chickens" LOL They can be stinky over the whole thing for sure.
 
Could be the rooster causing some stress. Is he the same age - 9months? They can be immature at that age (some never seem to grow up no matter how old), watch to see if he's harassing her or she is not accepting his advances.

Yes my roo is the same age and he seems to have lots of err... vitality. I do know that she has a small bare spot by her wings where he latches on - it's not terrible, but then again none of my other chickens have that. I'll keep an eye on her and him together to see if he is taking advantage of my poor lady. All 6 of my new chicks should be hens though, so soon enough he will be able to spread his seed a little thinner.
 
I'm betting more like a shell gland glitch or malformation.
Can be caused by disease too, had a couple birds with mild respiratory symptoms, they laid slabs all winter under lights, then molted in spring and went back to 'regular' eggs.
 

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