RIR laying very soft, watery eggs

[redheads]

Good evening! I have 3 RIR girls and 3 EE girls. 2 of the RIRs are 2 years old, and all the others are a year old. All of the eggs I'm getting from the EE girls have good, hard shells, and the yolk and white look very healthy. The RIR eggs, on the other hand, are terribly soft (you have to crack it right where you expect to use it), with watery whites. I have to be honest, I don't know who is laying the brown egg, so it could be coming from either one of them or all of them. They are on layer ration with an additional calcium suppl. offered in the coop. During the day, we open the coop, and they free-range all over the property. What in the world can cause such a soft shell and watery white? Should we be tossing these? I have been using them, though they make for very flat fried eggs! Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[welasharon]

There was a post similar to this last night. I have a cuckoo marans that will not use oyster shell as a supplement and she has to have more calcium than any of my other hens. I supplement ground up egg shells and cottage cheese for them all but her esp. I got busy recently and wasn't using eggs like before and I slacked off on the supplements. Everybody was fine except her....soft or no shelled eggs, busting inside her, falling from her on the roost and she is a marans but her eggs lost their color completely. I started her back on the extra and all is back to normal now.
sharon

 

[CMV]

Here's a great link to an egg page that will answer all your questions regarding egg quality:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps020

Your problem may be related to egg storage and handling, but likely is as a result of your hens' age. I started noticing a decline in my older ladies' egg quality after the age of 2, which is why most layers start being culled at that age. I still have my old ladies 2 years later, but by this age the egg quality is radically deteriorated. They still lay like troopers, but their eggs are (frankly) of poor quality. Egg quality is strongly age dependent.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[redheads]

Thank you, Sharon. I usually put used egg shells in my compost pile, which ultimately gets decimated by the hens. Just last week, I took the oyster shell and sprinkled it in the feeder, on the floor of the coop, and all over the ground outside. That way they have an abundance of it, in and around the coop. However, I'm just puzzled as to why it's just the brown eggs and not the green ones from the EE hens. I'm thinking of taking them one at a time and isolating them to see who the culprit is. Either only one of them is laying or all the RIRs are laying these poor eggs.

Just an FYI for you, I did a search on here, and there was a thread in '09 about soft egg shells and loss of color being associated with some virus. May be something you want to look in to!

 

[Celtic Chick]

One of my production reds had the same issue. It could be an illness or it may be that she is just not eating her calcium for some reason.
First, I would try mixing your oyster shell directly in with your layer feed for a couple weeks. I did this & it got my girls to start eating the shell again.
You could also give them some plain yogurt, cottage cheese or, my girls personal favorite, oatmeal made with milk and a teaspoonful of powdered milk for an extra shot of calcium & vit. D.
We ate almost all of our soft-shelled eggs, and we're still here.

Soft-shelled egg info:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs
http://www.blpbooks.co.uk/articles/egg_problems/egg_problems.php
Scroll down to Egg Drop Syndrome:
http://www.amerpoultryassn.com/viral_diseases.htm

 

[redheads]

Thanks for all of the links, folks! CMV, that was very informative. CD, your post was the one I found from a couple of years ago about Egg Drop Syndrome. I'm going to do some research on that. I'm really hoping it's just age, but one of those RIRs is only a year old! For now, I think they're going to stay cooped up (hee hee!), so they're only food source is the layer ration and oyster shell. Although, I am considering taking the youngest RIR and isolating her from the others to see if she's laying at all. So many things to consider!!!

 

[welasharon]

Great threads. Egg drop virus seems to be rare and mine is fine now as long as she gets her egg shell.
sharon

 

[Celtic Chick]

The link CMV posted stated this, I don't know if you caught it or not, but it sounds like what you are describing:

If one disease had to be singled out as being responsible for the majority of the economically significant production losses in egg layers, it would be infectious bronchitis. Not only is egg shell quality affected, but internal egg quality also declines. Watery whites are very common and can persist for long periods after egg production returns. Also, an infectious bronchitis outbreak can result in a pale-colored shell in brown eggs. However, other factors, such as stress, are also responsible for causing a pale-colored shell.

 

[redheads]

Wow, if it's infectious bronchitis, we're hopeless! I think I'll try the isolating of a few girls for observation. I've read a few sites so far about this disease, and so far, I haven't found any treatment options. I certainly don't want to lose all these girls. My kiddos will be devastated.

Thank you for all of your help!

 

[Celtic Chick]

Not necessarily.

Infectious Bronchitis
Incidence: common chicken ailment worldwide

System/Organ affected: respiratory

Symptoms: in birds of all ages: gasping, coughing, sneezing, wet eyes, nasal discharge.

Cause: several strains of coronavirus that survive no more than one week off chickens and are easily destroyed by disinfectants. Will only infect chickens.

Transmission: the most contagious poultry disease; spreads by contact with infected birds or their respiratory discharges. It can travel up to 1,000 yards in the air.

Prevention: Good management. Avoid mixing birds from different sources. Vaccinate with strains of virus found locally.

Treatment: electrolytes in drinking water. Keep birds warm and well fed and avoid overcrowding. Survivors are permanently immune, but become carriers.

Link:
http://www.raising-chickens.org/common-chicken-ailments.html