Soft shelled eggs, stop laying, loss of rear feathers & now diarreah... HELP!

[judyki2004]

My beautiful Karaya is a young easter egger/longghorn mix. After a while she started to lay soft shell eggs ocassionally, some so fragile as it appear to not have shell at all and eventually stop laying; other than that she have good color, eat wells and is very active, recently i notice she loss may of her rear feathers, also notice she pick on the rooster feathers but nothing to worry ( i though). But today I notice she have a very dirty butt and seems to have diarreah. I panic as last year I loss a hen due to a diarreah that wont go away ( no blood or visible parasites) ... On that ocassion i read I can give her a warm bath in water with epsom salts but It was too late for her, she was very thin and fragile and died. Now Im still at work planing on give my Karaya a warm soak with epsom salts, and separate her from the flock (1 rooster and 2 other hens). And fed her yogurt... please HELP me, what else can I do for her ??? (she is the one inmy profile's photo).

 

[judyki2004]

In the agrocenter sell me some antibiotics I just gave her the first one so far don't know what else to do...

 

[Eggcessive]

I would try giving her some extra calcium and vitamin D. Do you use layer feed and put out extra calcium in the form of crushed oyster shell or feed back their eggs shells to them? It sounds like she is not taking enough or has a problem with her shell gland. Probiotics are good for helping with diarrhea if given twice a week. Keeping her vent area cleaned off may help her irritation and feather loss, but here is a link about vent gleet just in case that is what you are seeing: http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/12/vent-gleet-prevention-and-treatment.html

 

[judyki2004]

*I give them alternatively 30% protein pellets/ layer pellets also feed them ground eggshells, a variety of frut and veggie scraps, and they are able to free range atleast 1 hour on weedays and all day when Im home weekends and hollidays. I will keep her separate until friday when I the antibiotic treatment finish. She don have diarreah anymor and the stool color is not as white as it was. She look clean, but she dont manege well being alone /separaate from her Roo. Maybe she have a problem with her shell gland... I'll reed the article linked to your comment! Thanks so much!

 

[Eggcessive]

She should be able to go back with the others now. Three hens is not enough to have with a rooster. They may suffer excessive feather loss from over-mating, especially with a younger rooster. Ten hens per rooster is a better ratio. Here is a good article to read about egg shell problems: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[judyki2004]

I think I found out the problem, i found out in her 'stool' what looks like the soft shell or membrane that cover the eggs; now if she is not getting enough calcium that may be solved , but if she have a problem with her shell gland i dont know... About my small flock is actually 2 thens , the 3rd one is a pulled very young even when is bigger than the 2 adults, but they look well the rooster is young but gentle, he dont even "force" matting the young one, he dance for her but thats all... Thanks for all the help I will be reading the article linked, the other one was awesome! i loved that site!