My New Hampshire pullet keeps laying eggs without or very thin shells.

[beausonge]

Hi All,

My five pullets (all different breeds) started laying about a month ago. Four of them have had regular shells on them and are starting to get larger (especially my White Jersey Giant). The New Hampshire Red has never laid an egg with a real shell. Now she will go a number of days without laying then I will find two of them on top of the hutch where she roosts.

They are free fed Purina Layena, they have free choice calcium available to them, and and water(at all times) with vitamins in it. They free range anywhere from 4 - 12 hours a day (whenever we are home to watch them). They have a 6 x 8 house with an attached 8 x 10 yard they stay in when we are not home. I only have one rooster so there are only six of them altogether.

"Red" literally runs out of the house when I release them and down to the horse manure or corral area. She spends most of her day sifting and eating bugs out of the manure piles. Could her eating mainly bugs cause her to have a calcium deficiency?

Thanks to all who answer.

Vickie
Kelso, WA

 

[Happy Chooks]

She has never laid a hard shelled egg in a month of laying?

I have one girl that lays a very thin shelled egg, but it has a shell on it.

 

[ailurophile23]

So strange - sounds like you are doing everything right. Could you try keeping her up for a few days to encourage her to eat the feed and see if that makes a difference? Might just be something weird about that particular hen though. Good luck in sorting this out.

 

[beausonge]

Quote:
Sad to say not one.

 

[beausonge]

Quote:
I could do that but then all the others would suffer. They so love to be out and picking through the corrals and yard. The reason I got chickens in the first place was to help with bug control from the manure. She is A+ at that so she is doing what I wanted her to do. I get lovely eggs from the other four so it is no big deal if she never lays a proper egg.

Thanks for the idea though.

 

[CapricornFarm]

What kind of calcium are you giving ? Maybe she is having a hard time metabolizing it. Seems like I remember it is linked to phosphorus somehow and needs to be the right proportion . I give mine crushed oyster shell.

 

[Judy]

From this link, one possibility is a defective shell gland.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

 

[mrdruids]

maybe you should try keeping her cooped up for a while with the feed and see if a steady diet improves the egg shells