my 4 year old silkie --retired from laying--then laid thin shell egg

[silkeysandra]

Does this happen? We haven't gotten eggs from her in years. Now I must say that i did not see her lay the egg. she was just dozing on the patio and we saw her wake up, stand up and see the egg. When she poked it with her beak, it broke. Then her silkie pal, Hilda came over and they were 'tasting' it! Thought that was bad, so cleaned up the mess and distracted them with greens.
I think she accidentally laid the egg. I can't imagine any of the other hens bothering to lay an egg on our patio. they are pretty good at laying in the coop. What's the opinion of chickey veterans out there?

 

[midget_farms]

Hens can live to be 10 yrs old if nothing eats them.

They can lay eggs that entire time, but as you have noticed - they tend to space them out more the older they get. This is why commercial productions change the birds every 2 years.

I'd say perfectly normal.

 

[silkeysandra]

so that can happen and it's not anything to worry about. that's good to know. Should I look into better feed than the usual feed store layer mash since she laid the thin shell egg or is that a factor of her age, do you think. They all get greens every day and all the bugs they can handle.

 

[Chicken Dentist]

Sounds like they need more calicum.

Calcium is needed by laying hens to form strong, sturdy eggshells. Hens without proper amounts of calcium lay thin-shelled eggs, or eggs with no shell at all! The amount of calcium a hen needs varies with her age, diet, health, breed, and size. Older hens need more calcium than their younger counterparts, and hens in hot weather need extra calcium concentrations in their feed since they are eating less due to the heat and might not be getting all the calcium they need. Since eggshells consist mostly of calcium carbonate, oyster shells and ground up limestone are good sources of supplementary calcium. Make sure you are not purchasing dolomite limestone, since this is harmful to egg production!

 

[silkeysandra]

thank. would grinding up the egg shells work as well? We will augment the feed too. Since it is just a couple hens having this problem, we'll put the extra calcium in their night feeders in their individual night cages. They each have a cage/house (old rabbit cages) to spend the night, have dinner and water and sleep.