holisticliving
Chirping
- Jan 5, 2021
- 30
- 79
- 71
Hi, I have looked through the forum and saw some similar posts about soft-shelled eggs, but most were about young chickens or those with health issues. One of my Lakeshore Eggers has started laying soft-shelled eggs for the past several weeks and I don't know why! We have only had a couple of soft-shelled eggs before, back last winter when the hens were new to laying and they were also spilling their calcium supplement daily so they probably weren't getting enough. (We have since switched to a larger feeder that is attached to the side of the run, and they always have plenty of crushed oyster shells in there.)
This hen is now about 16 months old, and usually lays daily. A few weeks back, she started acting a bit sickly one day, and I noticed she had an egg membrane hanging out of her vent. I cleaned and washed her butt and put her in a crate for a day and provided powdered calcium citrate, ACV, and garlic in her water (which she loved). She was acting totally fine the next day, so I put her back with the others.
Then she laid another soft one a day or so later, and I did some research and found that a common cause can be stress. We thought it was due to our cat, who had taken to regularly chasing the chickens on a daily basis. The cat has since been re-homed, and she seemed to be fine for a week or two - but then started back up again with the soft eggs!
I don't know what could be causing this... None of my other hens have this issue, and she has all the same feed and access to oysters shells as the rest. I'm worried about her getting sick, as I know that can happen if egg material gets left inside her. She acts totally normal most of the time - eats, scratches, pecks around with the others. She doesn't seem to be getting picked on, and I don't know what could be stressing her out - other than perhaps the fact that it has been so hot until just recently, but there's not really anything I can do about that...
I read some suggestions about giving her extra calcium - all I have is the powdered stuff - is it okay to put it the water for all of them, even if the rest of them aren't having an issue?
They should be getting close to their first molt (one of the others just started this week), so maybe that is the issue? Shouldn't she stop laying anyway if she's molting? If this keeps happening, I worry she will get sick and die at some point... Is there a way to get her to stop laying for a little while? (Without starving her, as I read about that somewhere and that just seems too cruel!)
Would love some tips for what to do for her!
This hen is now about 16 months old, and usually lays daily. A few weeks back, she started acting a bit sickly one day, and I noticed she had an egg membrane hanging out of her vent. I cleaned and washed her butt and put her in a crate for a day and provided powdered calcium citrate, ACV, and garlic in her water (which she loved). She was acting totally fine the next day, so I put her back with the others.
Then she laid another soft one a day or so later, and I did some research and found that a common cause can be stress. We thought it was due to our cat, who had taken to regularly chasing the chickens on a daily basis. The cat has since been re-homed, and she seemed to be fine for a week or two - but then started back up again with the soft eggs!
I don't know what could be causing this... None of my other hens have this issue, and she has all the same feed and access to oysters shells as the rest. I'm worried about her getting sick, as I know that can happen if egg material gets left inside her. She acts totally normal most of the time - eats, scratches, pecks around with the others. She doesn't seem to be getting picked on, and I don't know what could be stressing her out - other than perhaps the fact that it has been so hot until just recently, but there's not really anything I can do about that...
I read some suggestions about giving her extra calcium - all I have is the powdered stuff - is it okay to put it the water for all of them, even if the rest of them aren't having an issue?
They should be getting close to their first molt (one of the others just started this week), so maybe that is the issue? Shouldn't she stop laying anyway if she's molting? If this keeps happening, I worry she will get sick and die at some point... Is there a way to get her to stop laying for a little while? (Without starving her, as I read about that somewhere and that just seems too cruel!)
Would love some tips for what to do for her!