Old Hen laid shell-less egg

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Hi all,

the Rhode Island Red hen, who's turning 6 later this month, laid a shell-less egg (no membrane) 2 days ago, at approx 8 pm. Definitely not a regular laying time. The next morning, her crop didn't go down, but throughout the day it did go down. She lays one egg every 2 days, and today, at 6:45 pm, she laid another shell-less egg, this time with a membrane but no outer shell. Her appetite decreased today, even not eating all the dried mealworms I offered her, although she is enthusiastically eating the remains of the egg she just laid (even after I removed the sodden pieces).

The weather these past few days are windy and cold, not good for an old hen. Today she developed a hoarse voice and stuffy nose. Her poop is small, but it might be because her appetite decreasing, or shell pieces might be stuck inside her vent. There's a chance her appetite went down today because it was very cold, but it's just a hunch. I also checked her vent: no visible shell pieces.

What can I do for her? What diseases should I look out for? Should I feed her probiotics and extra calcium? How much calcium? What should I feed her if she won't eat chicken feed?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[AmyJane725]

If she won't eat chicken feed, try spicing it up with some warm water. Chickens generally love warm wet mash.

If that doesn't work, scrambled eggs are a nice treat. Again, warm.

Does she have crushed oyster shell available all the time? Or is she on layer pellets or something? She should have access to as much shell as she wants, rather than it being in her food.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

If she won't eat chicken feed, try spicing it up with some warm water. Chickens generally love warm wet mash.

If that doesn't work, scrambled eggs are a nice treat. Again, warm.

Does she have crushed oyster shell available all the time? Or is she on layer pellets or something? She should have access to as much shell as she wants, rather than it being in her food.

Yes, she has access to oyster shells. She is on chick starter, because she's really picky and doesn't touch the layer feed at all, so I just provide oyster shells and there hasn't been a problem of shell-less eggs until two days ago. I tried the warm feed, didn't really work, so I'll try the warm scrambled eggs now.

Edit: she likes the scrambled eggs, and took a dust bath later today.

 

[AmyJane725]

Edit: she likes the scrambled eggs, and took a dust bath later today.

Awesome! Glad she ate the eggs. Is she drinking at all?

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Awesome! Glad she ate the eggs. Is she drinking at all?

Yes, she is drinking, and she ate a fair amount later this day. I'm just worried if she's going to keep laying shell-less eggs at night and/or get an infection from the egg contents inside her system.

 

[TurtletheCoturnix]

Update: she laid an egg at 2:15 pm!
The shell was thin, but if this keeps up hopefully the shell-less eggs were a one-time thing (technically two times).