Soft Shelled Egg? Egg Eaters?? UPDATE

[Reurra]

I have a friend who is older that has some chickens, and she says one of them is pooping yellow, yolk like poop. The chicken seems well over all, she does lay down a bit. They were recently moved to a new coop from an old one and she wondered if it could be the hen is laying an egg with no shell. She said it just shot out straight from the birds behind? There does not seem to be anything else wrong with the bird she said.

I looked up egg peritonitis as well as black head but nothing seems to fit the description of whats going on. Im not going over to take pictures because I dont want anything to get to my own flock. She said though that it looked just like egg yolk and there was a touch of white with it. She also said the other hens saw it and went straight for it. She said the birds are around 2 years old.

Any ideas? I hate to tell her her birds are all going to die

 

[Judy]

It sounds like the hen is laying shell-less eggs or soft shelled eggs that are breaking inside her. I wonder if she just needs to add calcium. She could try giving a Tums a couple of times a week to give a calcium boost, and of course oyster shell.

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/11/egg-defects

 

[Reurra]

I went ahead and gave a bag of my calcium. She says the bird isnt sleepy or lethargic. it was a one time thing, since then the poo has been normal green, if not a little watery. Im guessing thats stress related though. I told her to keep a close eye and watch for any changes. I asked her if there was any foam or bubbles in the poo and she said no. Its bright gold orange like a yolk. I told her to pick up the bag of calcium and said just honk and I would bring it out. I hate to be aloof from her she is a friend, but i dont want her tracking something onto the property. I told her to watch for straining and ballooning of the body. I have no idea how long it will take to see whats up.

 

[Reurra]

So my friend called this morning. She said she found a soft shelled egg on the top of the nest boxes and it had a bit of blood in it. So I said i would come over because she begged me to come and see. As we were standing there and looking, one of her hens just sort of dropped a soft egg. Immediately the other hens went for it. I let her havea bag of calcium yesterday and she is feeding it in with their feed. Its fine powdered stuff. I have 2 questions now.

(And yes I sanitized when I got home)

Question one: Her immediate concern is for the hen that laid the egg. She has been standing by herself and has a bit of poo on her butt. Its kinda white and caked to a few feathers. Could the hen be sick from a disease or could it be this be caused by the stress of the move?

Question two: With the hen dropping soft eggs, can this cause the other hens to become egg eaters?

 

[Reurra]

Any suggestions what it might be?

 

[Reurra]

I went ahead and filled an egg with yellow mustard and a few drops of blue food coloring. I figure that whoever gets into the egg will get food coloring on their beak and blue is hard to wipe off.

I put the egg in the nest and told my friend to call if any of the birds end up breaking it.

She called me and said they arent touching it. In fact one of the hens has pushed it aside and is busy trying to lay. I will update later if I get any more calls.

 

[Reurra]

Well the egg was broken open this morning, but it looks like one is stepping on the egg. No beaks are blue.

Although Im starting to suspect the Rooster of foul play.

One bird is still dropping soft shelled, or no shell eggs. Her bum feathers are matted looking.

 

[Reurra]

Well, I went over and we both sat in lawn chairs and watched the birds. Her rooster kept getting up into the box and doing this little burbling song, then he would turn circles and it looked like he was wiping his face on the wood. Next he hopped out and went to talk to one of the other hens. A different hen went up and jumped into the box, but the rooster went and chased her out and did the same little dance again, then went back down to talk to one of the other hens. Whats he up to? Could he be stomping on the eggs of the other hens?

 

[Reurra]

Well...my friend found 3 hens this afternoon with egg on thier faces

What should she do? They didnt touch the mustard filled egg. They seem to know the difference between thier own and the false one. I told her to get ceramic eggs and put those in the nest. Her hens lay brown eggs though, should she paint them?

 

[Beekissed]

She needs to give it time and feed the OS in the feeds....it sounds like there are a few that are really calcium deficient and that can take some time to correct. Her birds are getting older...if she is feeding free choice, she might want to start regulating their intake so that the fat around their reproductive organs aren't inhibiting the ovulation and formation of the eggs. She'll have a lot less problems in that area if the hens are leaner instead of fat.

At the same time, she needs to increase their calcium levels, so feeding the OS right in the feed is a good move.

The rooster may have found the remains of a crushed egg in that nest...it sounds like he was calling the hens to food.

These hens are not chronic egg eaters,merely opportunistic eaters which is completely normal. If you break an egg in front of any flock in the country, the chickens will fight to eat the egg and shells. Remove the source of the problem and there won't be an opportunity to eat the eggs. She needs to look to the reproductive health of her hens and their nutritional levels.

And have some patience! This problem didn't get this way over night and it isn't going to be solved over night.