Soft shells for 3 weeks

[Darcy H.]

Hi, my chicken who is a red sexlink has been laying very soft shelled eggs that usually end up breaking in the nesting boxes for almost 3 weeks now! I have been giving them grit and ground eggshells to help but it has not done much. She did break her toe 3 weeks ago and has been walking but it seems like it hurts a few times a day. She also got a deep cut on her crown from a peice of fence laying around. I am wondering if these injuries have been affecting her egg-laying? She was our second chicken to start laying and hasn't stopped for a little more than a year. I am wondering if I should contact the vet or continue home remedies?

 

[cavemanrich]

What do you feed your chickens??? do you have soft shells with any other chickens? Do you feed a lot of treats and scratch?
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[Darcy H.]

We try to give them organic crumble that we add seeds and corn to. All of my other girls lay regular eggs. We do give a bit of treats but they are mostly fruit or veggie scraps.

 

[cavemanrich]

Sounds like it could be slightly low on the calcium. By you adding seeds and corn to your feed possibly reduces the amount of calcium intake. Not sure how much of the egg shell this particular chicken is able to get to. Can you offer oyster shells free-choice.
You mentioned cracking a toe. That almost sounds like osteoporosis.
It is possible that your flock is running on minimum calcium, and this one just fell below that threshold.
If your hens free range, they do pick up calcium in the greens they forage, as well as calcium stones/grit they may find in the ground.
If nothing else helps, maybe this particular hens digestion is off, and not able to produce calcium shells internally.

 

[micstrachan]

The timing does seem like the stress may be causing her issues. Does she recover ok from laying thesoft eggs? It can be exhausting.