Really thin shell on a very large egg

[Donelle293]

I have 3 1 year old cinnamon queen hens. They usually each lay 1 egg each every day, then somebody takes a day or two off. Lately one of the hens has been laying an egg with a very fragile shell. They are on layer pellets and have oyster shell available. They all seem to rotate and take off, but there are always 2 eggs. Sometimes the soft eggshell is there & sometimes not. They always rotated between 2 & 3 eggs, but the soft egg is new. Somebody is not getting enough of something?

 

[americana-lover]

It just means a hen is not getting a lot of calcium, which they should with the oyster shells. You should smash up their egg shells after you use them ( wash them right away ) and mash them up very finely and mix it in with their food

 

[sumi]

Your thread title says "very large egg" so is it the extra large eggs that has thin shells? This would be because hens only have a certain amount of calcium reserved for each individual egg shell and if the egg is abnormally large that calcium has to go further and literally stretch thinner! But thin shells could be caused by other things as well, such calcium absorption problems, heat stress, or an immature shell gland. It sounds like your hens are getting all the calcium and nutrients they need from their food, so don't supplement that.