Sandpaper egg shell

[rlmiddlebrooks]

I'm a little concerned with one of my girls. She gave us this sandpaper like egg today. This has never happened before and I'm not sure if I should be concerned. Can anyone tell me why my egg looks like this? It feels like sandpaper and has no color to it. My girls normally lay nice brown eggs but this one is almost white and rough. The egg on the left was this morning and the one on the right is her normal egg.

 

[Hholly]

Here's a great article on egg problems.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[rlmiddlebrooks]

Thanks for the article. I'm hoping she just disturbed during the calcium process of the egg making. It looks like it would be painful!!

 

[rlmiddlebrooks]

Now I'm getting shell-less eggs from this hen....very concerned with her at this point. I keep oyster shells available at all times as well as layer crumbles 16% and clean water regularly. Not showing any signs of being sick other than these crazy eggs. She is less than a year old and all are laying still through the shorter days I assume because this is the first year of laying. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[aart]

I get some funky egg in the winter...as well as sporadic laying.

What is 'less than a year'...how many months?
How long has she been laying?
Did she molt this fall?
What other foods/treats are you feeding?
Any changes happening in regards to population, predators, housing, extreme weather?
What is your climate?
Putting your location in your profile can help folks give better answers/suggestions.

 

[rlmiddlebrooks]

10 months old red sex links. I live east of Atlanta about 30 miles. Weather has been a little rough with thunderstorms over the last week or so. A couple times a week they get boss and fresh veggies a few days a week. Been laying for a few months now with no problems. This all started within the last week. I have been getting nice xl brown eggs almost daily. She is not showing any other signs at all. Just these crazy looking eggs.

 

[aart]

If she seems fine, eatingdrinkingpooping and active as usual, she probably is.
Eggs from backyard chickens are not always the prefect ones at the grocery(those are sorted out and not sold).
The softshell egg could be a glitch due to a stress that we may or may not perceive....
...or she could be getting ready to molt or go broody, you can get some funky one out of birds going into or coming out of lay.

Just keep an eye on things.

 

[rlmiddlebrooks]

one other thing......would me being out of town and not personally taking care of them as usual stress them? I had my mother and father take care of them while the wife and I were out of town.

 

[aart]

one other thing......would me being out of town and not personally taking care of them as usual stress them? I had my mother and father take care of them while the wife and I were out of town.

Could be, especially if the birds are not used to seeing those people.

I am amazed when someone new comes into my yard, the birds flee and huddle into a corner of run or coop.

They are very wary of any change, and that can cause stress.

But they are also resilient and will probably calm back down very soon.

 

[rlmiddlebrooks]

Ok being at home today is helping out a lot. I appreciate all of your help. I noticed today also that squirrels are around the coup and run a lot. They seem to not really care for them. Just a little uneasy looking when they are digging around outside the coop and run. Would/could the squirrels be causing stress?