soft spot on shell

[lizO]

one of my (7) hens has been laying eggs with a soft spot on the rounded end. They all have oyster shell available, it's not a very large egg size, and it's just a tiny spot, size of an infant's finger nail. It appears a bit darker there, and you can break through just pushing into it with thumbnail. Anybody had this one before? Thanks, LizO in PA

 

[gritsar]

Is it a newly laying hen or perhaps an aging hen? It's a malfuction in the eggshell dept.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

That's somewhat common in aging hens. We have commercial red hybrid layers here and after a year of laying a few percent of the eggs are thin or have a blemish on the large end.

Older birds do not process calcium as well as younger birds. Calcium uptake and mobilization decreases as a hen ages.

 

[lizO]

but...but....but (this is how i feel when my dr says certain pains are "age-related.") She's only a year old! i think it's the GL Wyandottes. i guess it's a better reply than disease. sigh. is age the only cause? they're so ... young!