Shell-less egg and diarrhea??

KnightsMist

Songster
Jan 18, 2019
120
278
164
Massachusetts
I have 8 young hens (~17 weeks), 1 laying consistently nice strong shelled eggs for about 1.5 weeks now (OE) and another who laid a nice strong egg late last week but has not yet laid another (WLH). I would have expected at least 1 or 2 others by now, even if she was only laying every other day as my OE did initially.

A couple of days ago, I saw one of the other hens pick up something in their run and try eating it while the others chased her. I couldn't tell what it was so I went to investigate and it looked like a shell membrane, but no yolk or shell pieces to be found.

This morning I went to let the girls out of the coop into the run and saw what looks like a shell-less egg, with yolk and a membrane, and separately, a large spot of diarrhea (pix of both below).

The girls are currently eating a mix of their remaining grower feed and all flock (all different breeds at various stages of readiness to lay, I think some are still several weeks out). They have free choice oyster shells available in a separate dish.

I know hard shells require more calcium- is there anything else I can do? Should I just transition everyone onto layer feed now? Any concerns about the hen who I believe laid the partial egg? I don't know if it's the same as who passed the diarrhea. All are acting normal, no other signs of anything amiss (aside from my EE with crop issues I've chronicled in another thread- she's hanging in there with a crop bra, doing OK for now). Thoughts? How concerned should I be?
 

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Quick update- yesterday I scrambled a couple of eggs, including crusged shells, and topped it with a scoop of plain yogurt, meal worms and oyster shell for protein and calcium. They all devoured it.

This morning, looks like my hen laid another shell-less egg overnight in the poop boards. Is this normal when a hen is newly laying or should I be concerned?? I think this is her 3rd shell-less, I've only seen 1 full egg from her. I checked her vent last night and couldn't feel anything, I don't think she's egg bound.

What would cause this? Other hen continues to lay beautiful strong eggs, and they all eat the same food.
 
It's not uncommon for a new layer to lay soft shelled eggs, but if she's having problems, you can give her 1 Caltrate with D3 once a day for 3-5 days to see if that helps.

It may just be a glitch.
If you are going to feed layer feed eventually, then I suppose you can start transitioning to layer feed, but finish the feed you have - no need to waste it.

I feed an all flock feed year round with OS free choice and generally have no issues with soft shelled eggs. IF I do, then usually it's an individual pullet/hen.
 
Is Caltrate the same as Tums? Wondering if I can give her what I already have vs going and buying a different supplement.

I did go get a bag of layer feed this morning, I'll mix it in with the all flock and keep OS out free choice.

Thanks!
 
Another update- another day, more shelless eggs. It looked like there were 2 from overnight/early am before I let them out. I went out to check on them a few minutes ago and found her back up on the poop boards (where she's consistently been passing them) and found her next to this. She was tucked in the corner, and she's a little bit lethargic today not as enthusiastically eating as normal. I did add layer feed yesterday, they do still have free choice OS- what more can I do or should I check for? I'll try to give her a calium supplement as recommended above.

With her having passed 5 or 6 of these now since her first (and only) perfect egg, should I be more concerned? Or is this just normal getting the hang of laying missfires?
 

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Is Caltrate the same as Tums? Wondering if I can give her what I already have vs going and buying a different supplement.

I did go get a bag of layer feed this morning, I'll mix it in with the all flock and keep OS out free choice.

Thanks!

She was tucked in the corner, and she's a little bit lethargic today not as enthusiastically eating as normal. I did add layer feed yesterday, they do still have free choice OS- what more can I do or should I check for? I'll try to give her a calium supplement as recommended above.
They aren't quite the same thing. But if Tums is what you have then, give her 1 Tums a day for 3-5 days. Break it up and pop it into her beak and let her swallow.

How stressed is this Gal? Is she lowest in the pecking order, does she get picked on? Is she being kept from food/water/nesting boxes? Is there plenty of room?

Layer feed is fine. The lethargy is concerning though. It's hard on them to lay soft shelled eggs. Hopefully this will straighten out soon, but it may be signs of re-occurring reproductive issues. Unfortunately this sometimes happens with high production birds.
 
They aren't quite the same thing. But if Tums is what you have then, give her 1 Tums a day for 3-5 days. Break it up and pop it into her beak and let her swallow.

How stressed is this Gal? Is she lowest in the pecking order, does she get picked on? Is she being kept from food/water/nesting boxes? Is there plenty of room?

Layer feed is fine. The lethargy is concerning though. It's hard on them to lay soft shelled eggs. Hopefully this will straighten out soon, but it may be signs of re-occurring reproductive issues. Unfortunately this sometimes happens with high production birds.

She's generally the leader of the pack. Certainly one of the 2 smartest of the flock, pretty dominent. They have plenty of space inside and out, I haven't noticed anyone not being able to get food and water (and I do watch them for that). I'm not sure how stressed they are, they have a fairly ideallic life.

Coop is 10x11', run is approx 16x24' but they also usually free range for a good part of the day (though I've been keeping them in the run more since they started laying until they get used to layimg in nest boxes- I have little time or desire to hunt around the farm for eggs!).

Only 8 hens total- so they have lots of space to be near each other or be off on their own as they please. Lots of roost spaces inside and out and 8 nest boxes (I built everything to accomodate for future #chickenmath).

I did give her some tums, no shell-less (or hard) eggs today- so maybe progress? Will continue to give her tums daily for a bit. I did also add some nutridrench to their inside water, figure additional vitamins can't hurt.
 

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