Soft shelled problem?

[jdywntr]

My ~1.5 year old BO has been laying a soft shelled egg every other day for the last week. I know this is normally a calcium problem but could it be anything else?

Tonight, I got home from work at about 830pm, full dark here, and checked the nest box and she was in there. I soft shelled egg was there and it was broken and it looked like egg was dripping from her ( I forget what the egg laying pooper is called). She looked uncomfortable and has never lain an egg at this time of night before. Will added calcium help this or could it be a problem?

Thanks.

 

[Sorin]

Hello! I don't know how much I can help, but a little calcium boost couldn't hurt. Try some plain yogurt. I have yet to have a chicken that wouldn't eat yogurt! Plus the extra protien might help too, hopefully someone else will have some better advice.

 

[VA Susan]

I don't know the answer but we've had a few thin shells lately too. Do you mean her egg has a thin shell or is it just the egg contained in a membrane without a shell? Is she laying normal eggs on other days or are those the only kind of eggs she lays?

We've gotten eggs on rare occasions with no shell at all that appear on the floor. I read they can lay those when they start laying again after a molt. We normally feed the crushed shells back to our hens and they have been cleaning them up. We got them some oyster shell and they have been going after that too. They've never liked it before. Ours must have had a deficiency of calcium. We have one that is laying a very abnormal looking very wrinkled egg every four days or so. I know that there is a disease that can cause wrinkled eggs, but none appear to be sick.

 

[Tikkijane]

Oyster shell (I mix it in with their food and have it available as well), feeding their egg shells back to them, and calcium rich veggies can help. Protein is always good for feathering, but they really need the extra calcium for their shells.

I would keep an eye on her to make sure she's not laying internally............. if you can't bring her in (I know it's late!) tonight, I would absolutely check her out first thing in the morning to make sure she hasn't retained anything...... good luck!

 

[jdywntr]

Thanks everyone. I checked her this morning and she is fine. I went ahead and put out some oyster shell. I never had before because they never touched it. The girls looked at it and walked right by. My Muscovy drake on the other hand was scared of it and then decided to sample. He'd pick up a piece, mouth it a bit, spit it out, pick up another piece, mouth it, spit it out, over and over. It was like he was thinking, no not that one maybe the next piece will taste good.

I moved the oyster shell into the chicken's run.

When you feed their shells back to them, do you crush them to powder or just break them up? Pieces of broken egg seem like they would be sharp to eat.

I also may buy some yougart when I'm at the store later. Plain?

 

[kgardiner]

Yes, plain yogurt with the active probiotics. I think I've also read somewhere here you should rinse and dry the eggshells before feeding them back to the chickens..

 

[Tikkijane]

Thanks everyone. I checked her this morning and she is fine. I went ahead and put out some oyster shell. I never had before because they never touched it. The girls looked at it and walked right by. My Muscovy drake on the other hand was scared of it and then decided to sample. He'd pick up a piece, mouth it a bit, spit it out, pick up another piece, mouth it, spit it out, over and over. It was like he was thinking, no not that one maybe the next piece will taste good.

I moved the oyster shell into the chicken's run.

When you feed their shells back to them, do you crush them to powder or just break them up? Pieces of broken egg seem like they would be sharp to eat.

I also may buy some yougart when I'm at the store later. Plain?

I've read that the larger the bit of calcium, the longer it stays in the tract which allows for better absorbtion. I do chunks of egg shell, but crunched up a bit. I also mix the oyster shell right in with their feed, because otherwise, like yours, they are disinclined towards it. But mixing it in always seems just fine.

Yep, plain yogurt will work just fine.