Red bottom & soft shell egg

[LBA830]

One of my hens just laid an egg in the run. It was soft shelled and her with 3 others ate it after it dropped. I found half a shell in the coop about 2 weeks ago. The egg was eaten and just half a shell left. I’m assuming it was hers. I checked her after she laid the egg in the run and her bottom is really red. I sprayed vetericyn on her and gave her a thorough physical check. She looks fine everywhere else. What could be going on?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Can you post some photos?

Could it be related to the vent picking issue(s) you recently posted about?
How much space (sqft) do you have in your coop/run and how many birds?
What do you feed including treats and do you provide oyster shell?
Any lice/mites?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/vent-picture-bruised-looking-vent.1459583/#post-24311673

 

[LBA830]

Can you post some photos?

Could it be related to the vent picking issue(s) you recently posted about?
How much space (sqft) do you have in your coop/run and how many birds?
What do you feed including treats and do you provide oyster shell?
Any lice/mites?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/vent-picture-bruised-looking-vent.1459583/#post-24311673

This is a different hen now The vent issue cleared up with my other. I doctored her up for a while and she looks much better. My girls have a huge shed coop. My in laws joke that they have a mansion because it’s so spacious. They have a 8x16 run with a swing, a perch, dust bath area, logs to play on, grit available and mixed oyster shell and egg shell available at all times. They get veggies and greens with some herbs every couple of days and outdoor time when I can be out with them. We have 2 red tail hawks and 4 turkey vultures that live in the backyard, so I try to watch them while they are out. I’ve checked for lice and mites, they look clear. I cleaned and sprayed the coop with a lemongrass oil mix to help in case. This hen had watery egg yolk colored droppings yesterday, so I soaked her in a bath of epsom salt and lavender oil. It seemed to help. She perked up from how she was acting yesterday morning. Her droppings I saw this morning were dark and a mixture of clumpy and loose. But she seems much more active and alert.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

If she's consistently laying soft shelled eggs, this can make them appear lethargic, since those can be hard to expel. The membranes (shell) is intact correct? They are not breaking inside of her?

You can try giving her human calcium like Caltrate with D3 for 3-5 days to see if that helps resolve the soft shells.

 

[LBA830]

If she's consistently laying soft shelled eggs, this can make them appear lethargic, since those can be hard to expel. The membranes (shell) is intact correct? They are not breaking inside of her?

You can try giving her human calcium like Caltrate with D3 for 3-5 days to see if that helps resolve the soft shells.

I only saw the one without a shell and that one was intact. I don’t think anything has broken inside of her. She’s in the nesting box now which is a nice change of pace for her. She hasn't been laying in the boxes recently. I’m monitoring her from the coop camera every few minutes. If it’s a no shell egg again, I will absolutely try your suggestion. Thank you very very much!

 

[LLO]

I have a 14 month old Barred Rock hen who has been laying soft shelled eggs for several months now. She lays a soft egg and eats it. 2 weeks ago we separated her from the other 8 hens because they were beginning to want to eat eggs, too. After reading on this forum about giving calcium + D3 supplements (400 mg calcium, 12.5 msg D3), I began giving her 1 tablet a day (dissolved and mixed with a bit of leftover rice). Today was her 7th dose. She lays an egg about every other day. There has been no change in her shell at all. This morning we found a soft shelled egg, broken and eaten. There are no avian vets in our area at all; regular vets won't tend a chicken. She has always had oyster shell available (which I noticed she will not eat), and has calcium in her layer food. Any ideas where to go from here? I would have thought we'd see a difference in the shell by this time....

 

[lizo97]

@LLO I am in the same boat. Apparently, there is a virus that can cause it? https://cluckin.net/why-are-my-chickens-laying-soft-or-thin-shelled-eggs.html

 

[LLO]

I read yesterday that giving calcium in bigger pieces at night would be more effective because the calcium would still be in the chickens system at the shell-forming stage, so last night we held her beak open and dropped chunks of calcium tablet down. She was very unhappy about that process! She laid a soft egg Wednesday, no egg yesterday. Today she laid an egg. We found the shell broken as usual. It may have been a tiny bit stiffer, but no significant difference. The other issue is that every egg she lays is very watery. She eats what she can of it and the rest is a watery mess under her laying pad. My question is: even if she gets to the point of laying hard shelled eggs again, are watery eggs safe to eat? I thought I had read that they are not....

 

[ColoradoMTNgal]

I only saw the one without a shell and that one was intact. I don’t think anything has broken inside of her. She’s in the nesting box now which is a nice change of pace for her. She hasn't been laying in the boxes recently. I’m monitoring her from the coop camera every few minutes. If it’s a no shell egg again, I will absolutely try your suggestion. Thank you very very much!

This is a different hen now The vent issue cleared up with my other. I doctored her up for a while and she looks much better. My girls have a huge shed coop. My in laws joke that they have a mansion because it’s so spacious. They have a 8x16 run with a swing, a perch, dust bath area, logs to play on, grit available and mixed oyster shell and egg shell available at all times. They get veggies and greens with some herbs every couple of days and outdoor time when I can be out with them. We have 2 red tail hawks and 4 turkey vultures that live in the backyard, so I try to watch them while they are out. I’ve checked for lice and mites, they look clear. I cleaned and sprayed the coop with a lemongrass oil mix to help in case. This hen had watery egg yolk colored droppings yesterday, so I soaked her in a bath of epsom salt and lavender oil. It seemed to help. She perked up from how she was acting yesterday morning. Her droppings I saw this morning were dark and a mixture of clumpy and loose. But she seems much more active and alert.

Hi, can you share a picture of your coop and run? When you give your girls extra calcium, do you bake the egg shells off first? What kind of herbs do you use for with the veggies and greens?