Shell issues, egg without shell, calcium troubles

[Kris5902]

I got another shell less egg last night, laid on the roost... this one was warm when it was found. (By husband of course!). It’s been going on for 10 days now. How long until she improves do you think?

Lots of solid shells from the others, some with powdery calcium coatings and the little bumps, just one softie. Not being sure who it is is a pain. I can rule out the girls whose eggs I recognize clearly, and I think I know who it might be, but I’m not positive. I have one Isbar that’s a bit smaller than the rest and has been since hatch. She seemed to catch up around 4 weeks old and behaves normally, but I’m thinking it might be her. I didn’t think she was going to make it at first, but then she picked right up.

Should I be looking at giving her a calcium supplement directly in a treat, even though I’m not 100% sure it’s her? How much longer should I let this go? At least this softie looked like an egg this time.

@Wyorp Rock do you have any suggestions? I was initially thinking it was just feed related, but now that everyone else is back to normal I’m worried it could be more. This one seemed like it had a dry powdery coating at least. I noticed you’ve shared some info on some other similar problem threads

 

[Kris5902]

The rest of yesterday’s eggs, from my two other Isbars, both Marans, and Barnvelders (or 1 Barnvelder and 1 of my Sapphires is laying the whiteish egg?) 2 of the sapphires lay very blue solid eggs. So I’m leaning to Tiny being the producer, with my younger Barnvelder, or maybe one of the Sapphires as the potential layer.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

and they do not like the layer at all! given two feeders with broiler in one and layer in the other they just ignore the layer, eat all the broiler and forage.

They like the higher protein content.

All animals are creatures of habit and don't care much for change.

Please understand that I also don't feed my roosters layer. But I do believe way too much fear mongering about it has taken place. Plenty of people feed ONLY layer.. and have roosters live past 8 years old with no sign of issues. The ones who do have issues were likely genetically predisposed in SOME way.

Shell less eggs may not be a direct result of too little calcium as the hen absorbs the calcium into the keel bone where it is then redistributed to the shell gland. A hen will sacrifice the calcium from her bones before laying shell-less eggs. The fact that it continues says to me that it is an individual issue this hen is having getting her system on line.

Take note of where each hen is roosted... and it should be easy to tell who left their egg deposit directly below them. Note because it is shell-less it just feels like a poo coming to them.

If you decide to try a calcium treat for the individual... tums should work. I'm not sure it will have any baring... but that is why we are here... to try things and learn from each other.

The thing is... with so many individuals we are trying to provide adequately for ALL of them and they ALL have different immune systems and such... making it a special challenge for us as keepers!

Beautiful eggs. I bet your flock is lovely to!

ETA: when tums is used during egg bound treatment... the extra calcium is to support the muscle contractions... not to try and harden the shell that has already passed the shell gland.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

You can try giving her calcium for 3-4 days. The Tums would work or if you have Caltrate give her 1/2 tablet per day.

Soft shell eggs can be from diet/nutritional deficiency, stress/disruption during laying, parasites (mites/lice/worms), defective shell gland, history of respiratory disease and sometimes in new layer or hens going out of/into lay during molting.

 

[Kris5902]

Still seeing some weird eggs... 2 very thin shelled from two separate chickens one quite also misshapen, 2 normals, 2 bumpy, and today 1 half-sizedbur otherwise normal. I’m currently hoping/thinking it has something to do with them being new layers...

I also noticed yesterday my top hen was not letting some others into the nesting boxes, so maybe there’s some stress from that? I could understand if she laid an egg, but yesterday she didn’t... she just didn’t want to share “her” box!

 

[Kris5902]

I’ve determined one of the hens is indeed my third Isbar Tiny, so named because she has always been smaller that the rest... now that I know it’s her I’ll directly supplement. I found one right below her on the roost tonight.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Is your little Tiny all straightened out yet? Or do the troubles continue.

 

[Kris5902]

Is your little Tiny all straightened out yet? Or do the troubles continue.

Still not quite perfect, but I have been giving her tums and it seems to be straightening out a bit. She’s now doing a super thin, but bumpy shell that is pinkinsh cream colored. Most of the others have smoothed out, and they’ve stopped devouring the OS like kids with candy on Halloween. I’m leaning towards she’s “just a little off” because she has always been a runt, and maybe she doesn’t like the OS?

I have seen one normal, one shelless, a badly body checked, a barely shelled, and then an overly pointy egg from a rescued girl I’m treating for SLM and a leg injury from being dropped by a kid. That is clearly due to stress from the injury. So I’m glad to have gotten such great info beforehand. I didn’t think to take pics of most of those, but here is the pointy one

 

[Timothy Menezes]

Hopefully she is just slow to recharge her bones with calcium. Sometimes a hen just has a defective shell gland and never lays a properly shelled egg. I had one of those and it was frustrating that there was absolutely nothing that could be done about it. I think a coyote snatched her, been a long time since we had her.