One soft shell layer

[Thancock760]

So, I have a constant supply of calcium out for the girls- everyone is doing fine but one girl. She has been laying soft shelled eggs for about a week. One was a “rubber” egg- then since then I can’t even pick them up without the shell cracking. She is eating and doing everything else normal. Also- they just started laying late December. How do I help her out or see what is wrong?

 

[azygous]

Have you identified the hen with the shell issue? That would be the first step. Then get some of this

and give her one table directly into her beak each day until her eggs are coming out with strong shells.She won't have trouble swallowing it.

This is not meant to replace the oyster shell. This different form of calcium is meant for short term therapy for thin shell eggs and once the problem is resolved, she can go back to oyster shell for her long term calcium needs.

Keep the bottle of calcium tablets handy in your run. If any hen acts like she is struggling with laying her egg, give her one tablet. This almost always helps her produce an egg that otherwise might get stuck and cause egg binding.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I have something like this I try to figure out of it is an individual chicken problem or a flock wide problem. The rest are doing fine so it's obviously a single hen problem. That clearly shows you are doing nothing wrong. I would not treat the entire flock for her individual problem.

She's just a pullet starting to lay. The internal egg making factory is pretty complicated, a lot of things have to go right to get a good egg. It's not unusual for a pullet to take a bit to work out all the bugs in that system. It's possible she'll work it out in another few days. You might give her another week and see what happens.

It is possible she has a a problem. By instinct she should know she needs the calcium but maybe she doesn't have that instinct. Her body may not process the calcium she does eat. She may have a defective shell gland that just doesn't work right. These are the types of things that may be corrected shortly or may never be.

You can try feeding her separately to get more calcium in her. Maybe crush a Tums or take some powder from the oyster shell and mix that with a treat. Or follow Azygous's suggestion. It's possible she will straighten up or you may have a defective hen. Those do happen. But don't give up too quickly, patience can be your friend.

 

[frostypenn]

Add vit D (and I also add vit E) to the calcium or to everybody's food. Went from soft to hard shells in one day.