One hen lays only rubber eggs, had to pull broken one out of her!

[sojeo]

I have one hen out of 6 that are laying that produces only rubber eggs. They have oyster shell available at all times. The others have nice hard eggs. This hen has always been a bit different, a runt and slow to develop. Yesterday she was looking sickly and a mess on her backside with feces and egg yolk. She looked as if she had a bit of a prolapse as she was sticking out. I took her in, gave her a bath and pulled out the membrane of a broken egg. She seemed to love the bath and after ate a hearty meal of chick crumbs with yogurt, a crushed up tums, cod liver oil and boiled egg. She stayed in the dog crate overnight and was looking back to normal today, so I released her back out with the rest. No prolapse, no feces on her feathers, back to normal poops, scratching around.

Now, my question is, is there a way to help her lay normal eggs? My husband doesn't want to keep her if she will only lay rubber eggs. Is it caused by bad genetics? They get lots of light, the morning sun shines in the coop through 2 large windows that take up most of that wall and they are free range from early morning until night. Plus, she is the only one affected. Any suggestions?

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don't mention how old she is or how long this has been going on. If she has been laying less than two weeks, I'd suggest maybe giving her a little more time to straighten out. With the others doing fine, I'd think it is genetic but maybe it is a hen learning to lay.

If you plan to hatch your own chicks, I would not hatch this hen's eggs if she ever does straighten out. This is not a trait I want in my flock.

 

[sojeo]

She is only about 7 months old and has been laying for about a month now. I am still hoping that she will straighten out in time. I am just not going to mention the rubber eggs to my husband and he will forget about her

I don't plan on incubating these eggs, so no worries there. I'm just concerned that this will continue to happen, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Has anyone ever put down a hen because it didn't lay a proper egg?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes. I raise mine for meat, eggs, and hatching. I have too many hens with good traits to tolerate one with bad traits. We all have different goals in raising chickens so my answer to this may not help you.

 

[sojeo]

Yes, I see. I just keep the birds as a hobby and for the eggs. I'll just keep an eye on her. Thanks for your help!

 

[Della333]

I hope you get some answers/ideas ......this was me last week....bathing "Paris" our Maran in the jacuzzi, the poor dear.
The rubber eggs, the small prolapse that disappeared, the oyster shell sprinkled on her food and always available, the age - all the same here.
She was molting when I got her 2 months ago and still molting - I haven't seen an egg now in 2 days so I wonder if she's taking a winter break?
She's not skinny, but always has been a VERY quiet bird, I call her lazy but she has her moments of being a "chicken clown"
so she doesn't seem to be in any health danger just can't figure her out.

 

[LizzyJo]

A rubber egg is no big deal. They are edible. If you don't want it, feed it to a dog or someone. I think the various shell-less eggs were interesting. But they stopped happening as the hens matured.

 

[sojeo]

Glad to know I'm not the only one with a chronic rubber egg layer. I realize that they are perfectly edible and that it is common in young birds, but I don't know if she has ever laid a hard shelled egg since she started laying over a month ago. I do think it is a problem if they continue to break inside her, and block things up, the chance of infection would be great. Interesting-yes, want it to continue and threaten her health-no.

 

[LynneP]

Some birds need a little more Vitamin D to metabolize their calcium, particularly those in a growth phase. You could offer some vitamin D in the form of cod-liver oil, or (easier) offer some multivitamins in the water for everyone in the flock. You may notice an improvement in as little as 2 days...

 

[sojeo]

I did give her cod liver oil the first day in the house, I think I will go out and get some vitamins for their water. I think that would be the easiest way to medicate her. Thanks for the tip!