Shell less egg

[shamtates]

Hi All, I have a 7mo old Silkie hen, Mango, who started laying about a month ago. This morning we noticed her acting lethargic so we brought her inside and gave her some poultry cell. While holding her, she passed a shell less egg. This is the second time she’s done this. She seemed to be straining a lot to pass the egg. She still seems a little tired, but is walking around pecking for bugs now. We give them crushed egg shell from time to time for calcium. Anyone else ever have this or know what this means?

 

[Tookie]

It's probably just a fluke that happens every once and awhile.
As long as its not consistent don't worry too much about it.
Next time you find her lethargic, get some calcium citrate into her incase she's having trouble with an egg.
What's her diet though?

 

[azygous]

Your Silkie is still not fully mature. It's likely her reproductive system is still fine tuning itself. She struggles with such an "egg" because it's much harder to pass a glob of jelly than a solid egg, which gravity helps out a lot.

What is your location on the planet? If you live in the northern half, the shortened days will help curtail ovulation, giving her system time to mature before she will be ovulating regularly. But if you're in the southern hemisphere, lengthening days could put pressure on her developing system and she could risk having one of these partially developed eggs getting stuck.

I would start her on a calcium supplement now in either case. Get some calcium citrate from any vitamin supply that serves humans. Make sure it contains vitamin D and is at least 600mg. Give one tablet daily directly into the beak for the next couple of weeks.

 

[shamtates]

It's probably just a fluke that happens every once and awhile.
As long as its not consistent don't worry too much about it.
Next time you find her lethargic, get some calcium citrate into her incase she's having trouble with an egg.
What's her diet though?

They have an organic layer non soy feed, 17% protein, 4-5% calcium. They free range during the day, so whatever bugs/grass she finds. Also scratch, and some blueberries. We were feeding them small pieces of bread occasionally but now I’m thinking we stop that completely since it’s not nutritious.

 

[shamtates]

Your Silkie is still not fully mature. It's likely her reproductive system is still fine tuning itself. She struggles with such an "egg" because it's much harder to pass a glob of jelly than a solid egg, which gravity helps out a lot.

What is your location on the planet? If you live in the northern half, the shortened days will help curtail ovulation, giving her system time to mature before she will be ovulating regularly. But if you're in the southern hemisphere, lengthening days could put pressure on her developing system and she could risk having one of these partially developed eggs getting stuck.

I would start her on a calcium supplement now in either case. Get some calcium citrate from any vitamin supply that serves humans. Make sure it contains vitamin D and is at least 600mg. Give one tablet daily directly into the beak for the next couple of weeks.

We’re in Santa Cruz, CA so the days are getting shorter. We’ll start the calcium supplement. Thank you!

 

[Tookie]

They have an organic layer non soy feed, 17% protein, 4-5% calcium. They free range during the day, so whatever bugs/grass she finds. Also scratch, and some blueberries. We were feeding them small pieces of bread occasionally but now I’m thinking we stop that completely since it’s not nutritious.

Their diet sounds great! Make sure they don't get too much scratch, a good rule of thumb is no more than 1tbsp per chicken per day.
I would stop the bread like you're thinking of doing, its just something they don't need.