Soft shelled egg/feeding recommendations.

[The Coop-D-etat]

Hello friends,

Yesterday I noticed Lilla, my lavender orpington was kinda sluggish and not perky as she normally is. I left her over night and this morning I noticed the same so I picked her up and examined her and found that she had a prolapse with a soft shelled egg. Fast-forward a bit I soaked her in a heavy Epsom salt soak and used a lubricant and managed to work it out.

She is now in a dog crate down in my room where it's quiet. I have water in there with Nutri-drench in the water and some feed with some crushed tums in them. As soon as I put her in she seems to have perked up and was exploring trying to find a way to get out of the crate. That being said...I'm not really sure why it happened other than premature laying?? She's 5 months old almost 6. I feed an 18% all flock with crushed oyster shell scattered about the whole run. Maybe she's not eating the crushed oyster shell???

My question is I have a rooster. will laying feed really cause that much damage to his kidneys??? Cause if she's not eating the OS I want to get them on layer feed then WITH OS. I got all flock because I want to keep my roo in good health for breeding purposes. Or is it maybe that it's cause she just started laying like two weeks ago?? I'm also nervous this will be a reoccurring issue, maybe it will maybe it won't.

It just sucks cause she is so sweet and one of my favorite birds I have outta my 10.

Any sort of help/recommendations would be 100% extremely appreciated

Thank you doe your time,
Ry.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Hello friends,

Yesterday I noticed Lilla, my lavender orpington was kinda sluggish and not perky as she normally is. I left her over night and this morning I noticed the same so I picked her up and examined her and found that she had a prolapse with a soft shelled egg. Fast-forward a bit I soaked her in a heavy Epsom salt soak and used a lubricant and managed to work it out.

She is now in a dog crate down in my room where it's quiet. I have water in there with Nutri-drench in the water and some feed with some crushed tums in them. As soon as I put her in she seems to have perked up and was exploring trying to find a way to get out of the crate. That being said...I'm not really sure why it happened other than premature laying?? She's 5 months old almost 6. I feed an 18% all flock with crushed oyster shell scattered about the whole run. Maybe she's not eating the crushed oyster shell???

My question is I have a rooster. will laying feed really cause that much damage to his kidneys??? Cause if she's not eating the OS I want to get them on layer feed then WITH OS. I got all flock because I want to keep my roo in good health for breeding purposes. Or is it maybe that it's cause she just started laying like two weeks ago?? I'm also nervous this will be a reoccurring issue, maybe it will maybe it won't.

It just sucks cause she is so sweet and one of my favorite birds I have outta my 10.

Any sort of help/recommendations would be 100% extremely appreciated

Thank you doe your time,
Ry.

You should keep the oyster shell in a separate container so they can eat as much as they need. I hope your lady gets better soon!

 

[OhDangBro]

Hey,
I had a hen that this would happen too. She would occasionally try to lay two eggs a day which I assume just messed up the calcium and process of making the egg shell hard. Since that happened I started giving half of a 600mg calcium pill every time she would do this. It has seemed to work for her as before I gave the calcium pills it would leave her egg laying messed up with soft shells.

 

[OhDangBro]

Sorry I just read that she also started laying only two weeks ago. Which could be the problem in itself as multiple hens of mine took a little to mature and get fully in the grove with laying.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Orps tend to have egg issues because they lay big eggs. I agree with keeping the oyster shell on the side in a container. I add crushed egg shell and when having laying issues - crushed citracal. The vitamin d helps the calcium to absorb better.
Soft shelled eggs take a lot out of a hen. She perked up because you "trapped" her. The all flock is a good feed especially with a mixed flock and even those who feed a layer feed will have egg issues and need to supplement.

 

[The Coop-D-etat]

Thank you guys! I didn't even know I had responses! I got no notifications that anyone responded. Thank you for your guy's input.

This morning when I went to go let the birds out I noticed that one of them had laid another soft shelled egg from off the perch sometime early this morning assume. I'm not sure if it's just kinks getting worked out cause when the others lay the shells seem perfect. I have no idea who laid this one because I found the hens eating when I opened the door to let them out.

 

[Eggcessive]

To answer your question about layer feed and roosters, I have feed layer feed to my flock with a rooster or a couple of them at times, with no issues of gout or kidney disease. But I have switched around to all flock/flock raiser feed when I had chicks or young pullets, or old ladies who stopped laying. All flock has about 1% calcium compared to 4% with layer. Hopefully your new layer will eventually lay strong shells, but I would give her extra calcium for a few days to see if it helps. There are several possibilities why soft shells or shell-less eggs could be laid, and this article may help:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

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