One chicken keeps laying broken eggs

[JuliaSunshine]

I started to see a broken egg quite often inside or outside the nesting box since a few weeks ago. It looked like one or more chickens kept kicking an egg out the nesting box too.
I thought somebody was pecking an egg or kicking eggs and bedding around so hard that the eggs break.
However, it turned out that the bottom chicken consistently laid an egg that's weak shelled.
The pointy end of her egg is always very thin and collapses when slightly touched.
Other chickens bully her whenever she is in the nesting box as if they know her eggs are not good enough for the flock.
They all eat layers feed and have oyster shells and broken egg shells whenever they want. They free range 5 to 8 hours a day.
What should I do to help the bottom chicken lay thicker-shelled eggs?
Should I give her extra calcium?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You can try giving more calcium. Sometimes a bird's shell gland just doesn't work properly. I had a hen that started presenting with paper thin shells at 6 or 7 that continued until shebfinally stopped laying and passed

 

[FrostRanger]

Yeah, you can give her calcium citrate + d3 for a few days (same stuff for humans, you can find it anywhere that sells vitamins). Hopefully that'll get her sorted but if not and it's just her having issues there might just be something wrong with her shell glad

 

[nuthatched]

What's their diet?

 

[Perris]

It has nothing to do with diet. It is a classic symptom of mycoplasma synoviae, a common subclinical infection of backyard flocks, usually passing unrecognized. See figure 5 here
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/poultry/diseases-of-farmyard-poultry/part-1-mycoplasmosis/

If you want to read more about it in the technical literature, the phenomenon is often abbreviated EAA (eggshell apical/apex abnormality), e.g. http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez150

Your hen will probably get over it without treatment and her eggs will return to normal when she does, though it may flare up again in the future. The others in the flock maybe don't have it yet, and are picking on her because they see her as a threat to their own health. So you might want to remove her from the flock, though the chances are they have all been exposed already (she got it from somewhere) and it's a bit pointless. Most strains are not lethal, unlike culling.

 

[JuliaSunshine]

It has nothing to do with diet. It is a classic symptom of mycoplasma synoviae, a common subclinical infection of backyard flocks, usually passing unrecognized. See figure 5 here
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/poultry/diseases-of-farmyard-poultry/part-1-mycoplasmosis/

If you want to read more about it in the technical literature, the phenomenon is often abbreviated EAA (eggshell apical/apex abnormality), e.g. http://dx.doi.org/10.3382/ps/pez150

Your hen will probably get over it without treatment and her eggs will return to normal when she does, though it may flare up again in the future. The others in the flock maybe don't have it yet, and are picking on her because they see her as a threat to their own health. So you might want to remove her from the flock, though the chances are they have all been exposed already (she got it from somewhere) and it's a bit pointless. Most strains are not lethal, unlike culling.

Thank you very much for the info. I lost a chicken a week ago and her breathing was laborious on and off for over a month. I wonder if she had the same thing.
There's another chicken that seem to have been not laying for a long time. I'll keep an eye on her.
I separated the bottom chicken as she seemed broody this morning. Hope she gets better.

 

[JuliaSunshine]

What's their diet?

It's 18 percent layers feed.

 

[Chubbicthe2nd]

Did she survive?

 

[JuliaSunshine]

Did she survive?

Yes. I've been keeping her in a separate coop and let her hang out with others when free ranging. Also I've feeding her extra protein. Less stress and eating well seemed to work because her eggs started to get better. Then she stopped laying and went broody, then started molting. She's still a bit sickly here and there and I keep brining her into a shed at night because she looks so cold. I left her outside during the day with other chickens few days ago when it was windy and she looked ill that night. I'm not sure how long she'll live but hopefully she can get healthy again.