Rubbery soft shelled eggs and then nothing...

[Sexybit]

My girl Laverne is an Astralorp that is almost a year old. She usually lays a beautiful cream colored egg daily. About 2 weeks ago, I noticed her eggs getting lighter in color and then one day, her egg has a rubbery, soft shell. She laid a few more of these every other day for about a week, and then completely stopped laying all together. During this time, we had several days in the high 80s low 90s with high humidity. She stopped laying last summer during the extreme heat so I was giving her some time to recover from the heat. Also during this time, we added a few dog houses to the yard to offer protection from hawks if they would need it. Our other girl Lucy, started laying in the dog houses. When she did, it was as if Laverne was confused and didn't know where she was supposed to lay. Today, she is a bit lethargic. She will not run to me when I get out the scratch or the cracked corn. When I look at her vent, it does have some dried crusted poop so we soaked her rear and removed it. Other threads had suggested worming so we did that this morning. Anyone have any other suggestions as to what may be wrong with her?

 

[bluegiantsc]

it sounds like shes egg bound.
what kind of food are you feeding them?

 

[Sexybit]

I feed them Layena crumbles. She gets watermelon, cracked corn, scrambled eggs, mung beans, etc. She also gets free range of our entire backyard.

 

[bluegiantsc]

that sounds like the same things i feed my chickens,
she could be egg bound, it sounds like the symptoms of it.
but i'm no chicken expert. maybe try some electrolytes to help keep her hydrated. and some oyster shells because she may not be getting enough calcium.
hope that helps, and i hope your hen gets to feeling better.

 

[Sexybit]

Thanks. I have been giving her oyster shell when I noticed she had been laying the soft shelled eggs. Is it possible for her to be moulting? I noticed she has a bare spot on her neck, on her belly/chest, and her rump now that we keep soaking her bum in warm water. I have checked her repeatedly for mites or lice and have found nothing. Do chickens get lethargic when they moult? She just doesn't seem to want to do much. Thank you again for your suggestions and wishes of health!!

 

[bluegiantsc]

i guess she could be moulting. i don't think they lay when they moult, or at least it slows down.