soft eggs - no eggs - pasted vent

[AdventureSmurf]

Hi everyone,

I'm brand new here so I hope I'm posting this in the right spot.

My Rhode Island Red, Scarlet, is just over a year old. She free ranges in my backyard and supplements with Layena. She started laying soft eggs a couple of months ago. It didn't take long before she was eating the eggs. I tried supplementing her food with oyster shell but it didn't help. She wouldn't eat it when I offered it in it's own dish so I started mixing it in with her feed. That didn't seem to help either. When Scarlet ate an egg, she only ate the shell. She left a large yolky mess in the nest box every time. I haven't found any broken shells or egg yolk over the last two weeks. I just noticed that her vent is pasty white. What do you think is going on with her? And what should I do about it?

Thanks in advance for any insights you might be able to share.

Danielle

 

[chickenmom1]

If you are free ranging, make sure you are worming them. I use a food grade DE with flax seed. As for the eggs, try some yogurt. My girls love it and it gives them an extra calcium boost. I would still add oyster shell to the feed. Hopefully, eventually she will normalize. I am new to this too. I have only been doing it a year, but I learned a lot so far and you never stop learning. Good luck.
J

 

[crawfordmama]

I haven't gotten any eggs yet, but I think it's normal for new layers to have soft-shell eggs. Just keep supplementing with the oyster shell. As for her vent, I'm not sure.

 

[moondog425]

I crush up egg shells and mix with thier food