Shellless egg

[SweetAdelaide]

I have 9 hens about 6.5 months, 8 of whom have been laying healthy eggs for weeks. However, one of them (I suspect a Barred Rock who was late to lay) is laying shellless eggs in the coop, sometimes appearing having done so from the roost. All I find are the insides of the egg. All have access to oyster shells and again, the other 8 are laying fine. Anything to worry about or try?

 

[aart]

Might be a new one laying now.
It should clear up.
Are they eating the OS?
What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[SweetAdelaide]

I’m hoping will resolve but continues to occur. They get Scratch and Peck Layer 18% along with sides of oyster shells and grit. She’s the only one with this issue.

 

[aart]

I’m hoping will resolve but continues to occur. They get Scratch and Peck Layer 18% along with sides of oyster shells and grit. She’s the only one with this issue.

How long has it been going on?
How many days, how many softies?
Is the S&P a pellet, crumble, or cracked grain formulation?
Some birds are lemons.

You might try administering some calcium supplements only to her.
@rosemarythyme does this with one of her birds.

 

[SweetAdelaide]

I’ve noticed at least three on the last week but there have been some others over the last couple weeks. Their food is in its whole form, not processed into crumbles, etc. I still don’t know 100% if its this one hen, but quite sure it probably is.

 

[aart]

in its whole form

Pellets?
or does it look like cracked grains?

 

[SweetAdelaide]

Pellets?
or does it look like cracked grains?

More akin to cracked grain

 

[aart]

More akin to cracked grain

Might want to ferment or at least soak that type of feed.
The 'fines' which contain the essential vitamins/minerals/amino acids can sift to the bottom and thus not get ingested.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You might try administering some calcium supplements only to her.
@rosemarythyme does this with one of her birds.

Try this in conjunction with fermenting/soaking the S&P feed (I feed fermented S&P first thing in the morning, dry pellets available rest of the day):

If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her a minute to eat and after that she's free to go.

If it works you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results.