mushy egg and tired chicken

human1

hUMAN
Nov 13, 2020
3,776
19,585
731
USA
One of my chickens started laying on 10/17 so it's almost been a month.
she ewas born on 4/29/20 so she is around 6 months
She is a red sex-link. she has only skipped laying one day so far, which was this Wednesday (25 eggs in a row)

Today afternoon (not in the morning) she started acting tired and not as active. around go-to-the-coop time we quarantined her in one of our old boxes for sleeping. the rest of the chickens had gone in the coop. we checked on her again and there was a mushy egg. (shell less egg?) like a normal egg but seemed like the inside wasnt enough to fill up the outer part (shell?)
also, she has been laying earlier and earlier recently so today she laid an egg in the coop before we let them out. the egg cracked. we think we cracked it when we pulled out the tray for teh coop.
also we have been giving them a bit of rice (we know if they eat too much it will blow up). probably less rice for them now.

we dont ahve the egg anymore because we opened it for cooking so we can't get a pic.
is this just a shell-less egg and we should feed her more crushed egg shells and feed? (we dont have oyster things.) she is in a box separate from the other chickens for the night.
 
Are they on layer feed? She may need more calcium. If you don’t have oyster shells do you have calcium tablets you could crush up and give her?

We do have lyaer feed but no calcium tablets. we have a plate of crushed egg shells though
 
Recycling your shells is good, but as others have suggested, oyster shells might be a good choice right now. The size and composition of the oyster shell causes it to be held longer in the bird’s gizzard allowing more calcium to be absorbed.
Sounds like you know your birds pretty well. 👍 Good luck.
 
Yes, and they last longer in the system.

What all and how exactly are you feeding?
Rice has about zero nutrition.

We have separate containers in an area for the foods like layer pellets, rice, egg shells, vegetables/fruits, and mealworms. they just go over there to eat

I guess she was acting werid because of the weird egg? she is acting normal today (foraging with the other chickens and eating foods)
 
She is a red sex-link. she has only skipped laying one day so far, which was this Wednesday (25 eggs in a row)
She needs the nutrients in a poultry feed.
We have separate containers in an area for the foods like layer pellets, rice, egg shells, vegetables/fruits, and mealworms. they just go over there to eat
Skip the rice, veggies/fruits and mealworms containers.
They should be 10% or less in total daily as a treat.

A red sex-link is an egg production machine and needs the nutrients in a complete poultry feed.

I've had Golden Comets and currently have 6 months old ISA Browns.
20201113_093031_resized.jpg

I feed a Non-Medicated Starter-Grower with a separate container of Oyster Shells and had just one soft shelled egg from them when they started to lay.
The Layers feed you are feeding should comprise most of the diet.
20201031_055028_resized.jpg
20201018_212134_resized.jpg

Their eggs are dark brown. The lite colored eggs are from my Barred Rocks.
20201003_182212_resized.jpg

GC
 
Last edited:
Just a flockraiser type feed, OR a layer feed, and free choice oyster shell. Keep the rice, fruits, mealworms, etc. to a minimum. Just a little once, or twice a week. Due to their laying capabilities, they need solid nutrition, which is diluted when you feed them treats.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom