One chicken is repeatedly laying thin shelled eggs

[Tala]

Quote:
That's my thought! I would separate her to see if she's even laying! She might not be the guilty dog after all!!

 

[Kim_NC]

White Rocks do lay brown eggs. At least that's the standard shell color for them and all that we've ever had laid brown eggs. A cross with WR and RIR should be a brown layer.

Can you isolate the little girl to verify it's her laying the poor quality eggshell? Also, give her plenty of oyster shell and only layer feed to see if it improves.

 

[RocketDad]

Maybe she needs to eat a couple of eggs worth of shells to get her system built up?

My redstar (looks a lot like your hen, they're probably crossed from some of the same base breeds) lays an egg every single day. She hasn't taken a day off since August. And her eggs are huge. Her shells are much thinner than the others. If eggs roll into each other, hers get cracked. I've even pulled one with a doink out of the nest box, where another egg hit it being layed. I try to give her more eggshell just to help her out. I mix eggshells into the kids' leftover oatmeal - that makes a very attractive presentation and the shell is less likely to be skipped over for the yummies. Mashed potatoes works okay too.

 

[sommrluv]

I'm getting 7-8 eggs a day from 7 chickens, so I'm fairly certain it's her. I've caught her near the nesting box when there was one (standing on the perch) and she's the only one who uses the top right box.

I wouldn't say it's definately here, but I'm leaning towards her. I would make sure it was her before culling. They get ALL their eggshells back, oyster shell in three feeders, and oyster shell in treats, as well as their flock block.

I just looked at her when I was checking on them this afternoon...her feathers are nice and shiny, and she does seem a little heavier, but she's plucked a considerable amount of feathers from around her vent.

 

[Chicky Joy]

I have gotten some strange eggs. Some were soft some were thin shelled. I always noticed that when there was a soft egg there was one more egg than I had chickens. Can chickens lay eggs that aren't ready to be laid? We were getting 9 eggs from 8 hens on the days we got a soft shelled egg.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

If she is picked on, she may be very stressed. It could cause health problems. Some individual animals can be more vulnerable to stress than others. I think you should sperate her with one other hen like someone else suggested.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
If she's missing feathers around her vent PLEASE check her for lice!!!!!!!! Although you did say that the others pick on her so that could be it too, I'd still check just to be sure. Grab her off the roost at night and check her underside good with a flashlight.

If she's eating feathers she may be trying to compensate for a lack of protein, so I would cut out all treats and just feed layer and see what happens. You mention a flock block - are they contained or free ranging? Do they have other treats such as scratch frequently?

IF she is laying an extra egg per day that might explain the shell problem. Often times if they lay an extra egg it isn't "normal" but they don't usually do that kind of thing all the time. Maybe someone else can chime in with more experience.

 

[fiberart57]

I have read on this forum that a calcium deficiency isn't the only thing to cause thin shelled eggs; a Vitamin D lack can cause similar problems. If she was undersized for a while she may not have gotten the necessary nutrients. Vitamin D is needed for calcium assimilation and processing. You might try to emply the contents of a Vitamin D capsule, the oily kind, and some of the powder at the bottom of the oyster shell bag into some mash and feeding this to her. This might help the soft egg problem but I don't think it will move her up the pecking order.

I have a fondness for the small outsiders of any flock and I would have a hard time culling her. (Not that I've actually ever culled my girls, not necessary, thankfully.) Perhaps, as someone suggested, a new home with less assertive hens would be better for her. Perhaps someone nearby has a hen whose extremely aggressive and would trade. I've heard that moving a mean alpha hen can take them down a notch and render them likable.

Mary

 

[sommrluv]

Well, I'd rather not have an extremely aggressive hen! LOL.

I'll look into the vitamin D. The 'treats' I normally give them are meat stews...last 7 days it was beef heart and wheat and brown rice with a couple fish oil caps. Two weeks before that it was pork and wheat, with a smattering of soybeans and veg, but not more than 2/3 a cup in a 7 cup stew. ( I also started mixing oyster shell and yogurt in a few days ago, and gave them an oatmeal/oyster shell/yogurt smoothie a really cold day that I found the shelless egg) The dogs tend to share these stews so they don't go bad (in the house). I give a few teaspoons of scratch, but normally it's 1 tsp scratch, 1 tsp boss, and 2 tablespoons of their pellets (20% protein) as their "scratch" Any veggies they get are portioned out. Oh, and they free range about 1-3 days a week, depending upon weather and time, we have a considerable amount of hawks so I need to be out there. They have an extremely large run 300-400 sq foot. My coop is also large for 7 birds, so there's no worry about overcrowding.

I think I'll give it three days before I seperate her, see how many more I get. I'll also check them again for mice and lice. Not one other hen has feathers missing from that area.

It's more food aggression than beating up all the time, but the barred rocks are fairly rude. They beat on all the moyers hens, but my RIR is fairly nice to her. I think if I put them together, they wouldn't have as tough a time as assimilating back than two of the moyers mix would.

Thank you all for all of your very helpful suggestions!

 

[sommrluv]

Small update...I was in the coop one evening before "chicken bedtime" to make sure they had water, it wasn't frozen, etc, and while I gave them some veg, I noticed one of my mixes was just standing in the corner, fluffed up. I was concerned, because I thought she was sick, and than she laid a completely shellless egg...NOT the chicken I has suspected. This girl is the biggest of all of them.

It was apparently not the first time, as the barred rock was standing next to her, with her head right near her bottom, and as soon (or maybe before!) it hit the ground, the BR had broken the egg and four chickens started eating it immediately.

As far as I'm aware, they've never eaten the shelled egg. I upped my calcium to them, by giving them oatmeal in milk & yogurt with oyster shell and powdered milk, for two days.

Now for three days straight, I'm getting a SHELLED (somewhat thin, but not paper thin, maybe grocery store thin) WHITE egg, in the same box the shellless and thin eggs were being laid. It's mishappen a little, like a small perfect egg, with a bulge on one end. I'll take some pics this afternoon. It also has..scrapes in it, as if someone had run their nail down it, and left an impression. All three eggs have 'scrapes'.

I'm sure I'm over-thinking it.