Soft shelled eggs

[Sylie]

Most likely your hen currently has or has had Infectious Bronchitis. Almost any shellless egg that can't be directly attributed to known and observable cause is a result of Infectious Bronchitis.

This disease will result in a drop in egg production as well as thin shelled eggs, soft shelled eggs, rough shelled eggs and totally shell less eggs.
A hens' uterus is damaged by this disease and as a result it becomes deformed and this directly results in a condition known variously as internal laying or egg peritonitis because the ovaries of a hen suffering from Infectious Bronchitis become deformed and the ovaries can no longer drop the egg yoke in its proper place.
Other signs of Infectious Bronchitis are rough eggshells or eggshells with little bumps on them. When a hen first contacts this disease you may (or you may not) notice her coughing, wheezing, rattling, chocking, or making other unusual breathing noises or movements. There is a vaccine against Infectious Bronchitis but the proper course of action for the health and well being of your flock is culling any and all previously infected hens. The for mentioned breathing problems is where the term Bronchitis comes into play.

If you preform an after death examination you will find the yokes in the hen's uterus are floppy or misshapen instead of firm and round.

bumpy eggs? I have a hen that has laid bumpy eggs for years, can they have this bronchitis thing for years with no other symptoms other than the bumps? Can ducks get this with no symptoms other than soft shelled (or no shell in my ducks' case) eggs? My chickens and ducks have separate pens and never interact, they don't get along. The bumps appear to be something you could pick off if you try but when I have tried, they don't come off.

 

[morsekathan]

The bronchitis actually seems to make sense given her laying history. She used to lay her eggs in the recycle bin in my office every day (after knocking on the window to be let in) so I am very familiar with what she lays. She also had bumble foot - we cut the bumbles out, but she still limps. Could that be a factor? I can't remember if the soft shells corresponded to the bumble foot. The rest of the flock is fine so I'm guessing she's not infectious any more. Culling her really isn't an option. She is super happy and there's the fact that she knocks on my window to be let in so she can lay (a natural chicken behavior that I'm sure many people haven't experienced!)

 

[morsekathan]

Just to follow up here. I did calcium therapy as recommended by someone and it worked. She's laying eggs with shells now. The shells are not that hard, but at least they have shells. I gave her 400 mg of calcium tablet chopped up and stuck in raisins for four days. It worked and then I stopped and now her shells are soft again, so I've started giving her calcium again. I'm thinking she will probably need to be on calcium supplements for the rest of her life. Anyone have any other ideas for administering the tablets? I tried sticking them in peanut butter, but she doesn't like peanut butter (the other hens do and goggled it up!). It's kind of a pain to chop them up and stick in the raisins