Soft rubber Eggs, Dropped Egg Syndrome ?? * Pic included

[tabschickens]

I have 5 hens that are approx 5 months old. They are all laying. They have been laying normally for a few weeks now but a couple of weeks ago I noticed a really soft rubbery egg that was broken on the roost and laid in the middle of the night.
Fast forward a few weeks, I have been getting normal eggs about 60% of the time but last night I found 4 of them rubber eggs broken and one whole. See pic.

This looks to me like "Dropped Egg Syndrome" to me but I have read that it's not common in the USA. These hens were all raised since birth except for one which was given to me and is about 2wks younger. They are in a coop that is brand new so no chance of being infected by older hens etc. They are free ranged all day long. Fed Purina Layer feed, corn, sunflower seeds and crushed oyster shells.

What could be going on here ? thoughts please ???

If this is dropped egg syndrome I have read that molting them out will fix it, but I live in Northern Maine and it's getting cold here. I do not want to do that to them, they will freeze to death.



Thanks for any input.

 

[tabschickens]

Anyone ???

 

[cpegram]

wow i have never seen anything like it then again i am a newbie but i will give you a *bump* maybe someone else will come along

 

[theFox]

Calcium or vitamin deficiency as well as anything that can stress the birds can lead to rubber eggs, this is also the result of several diseases.

Do you also feed your birds oyster shell free choice and do they enough sunlight?

 

[tabschickens]

yes my chickens have free choice oyster shells and they are outside from 6:30am- 7:30pm, free to do what they wish.
I just started feeding the oyster shells though, however they should be getting enough calcium from their feed.... this is what puzzles me.

 

[hinkjc]

It is my understanding that egg drop syndrome has been irradicated from the US for a long time now, so doubtful this is what is going on with her. It is perfectly normal for a new layer to lay odd eggs on occasion. If this is the only one, it's probably just her egg tract getting things organized. If she continues, then you may have a reproductive defect going on or a disease (some like IB cause this as well as reduced productivity in general).

 

[tabschickens]

I would tend to agree with you however it used to be just one egg like this a couple of weeks ago, now this morning there was 4 of them on the roost that looked like this, the pic is of the only one that was not broken...
So out of 5 laying hens I only got one "normal" egg yesterday and today.... and 4 rubber ones, they were all laid early this morning.... I am not sure what to think.....

If it was just one hen I would think it could just be her getting her egg tract regulated like you suggested but it seems like it's all of my hens....

 

[hinkjc]

I thought you were referring to one hen. Sorry about that. Infectious Bronchitis can cause this problem in a layer flock. You often never notice the respiratory symptoms or they never appear, but productivity and changes to the eggs are pretty evident. If I had to guess, I would go with this since you're seeing it in most of your hens.

 

[tabschickens]

Ok, thanks, I will research that and see if it seems to be what they have...

 

[theFox]

First off are your chickens eating any of the oyster shell?

If they are it is a sign that their feed isn't providing enough calcium or what is provided isn't being utilized. If it isn't being utilized then there is likely a vitamin deficiency, the first one to suspect is vitamin D which is required to actually use the calcium, that is why I asked about sunshine.

As there are several possible causes they must be eliminated.

Stress also plays a role as does disease.

Is anything disturbing your birds at night?

Have your birds had any sniffles or do they currently have the sniffles?

Heat can also stress them and last week was rather warm.

I get an occasional rubber egg but not in bunches.