Something’s missing

[unbaked pegga]

I have a year and a half year old sex link hen that came to me free in a clutch of 5 chicks I bought. She lays eggs like nobody’s business and eats like a horse but she is a little frail thing. She never missed a day laying an egg but then she started molting and no eggs and I knew that was why and I was glad she could give her body a rest. So about a month ago I saw a tiny egg in the nest box and another one the next day then the next day a shellless egg and she has laid consistently every day and every egg has no shell or a very thin one. The yolk and white are there but no shell. I have checked her for a stuck egg nd she was ok there. She still eats like a horse, very active, still gets along well with the other hens (for some reason stopped laying period after they molted and that’s ok by me because they are pets to me, they seem fine too. Bright red combs, huge appetites, no mites and I have those mite control strips from myers hatchery on each side of their door. I have always kep oyster shell calcium in a a container in their run. I am clueless. So does anyone else have a theory on what could be going on?

 

[STACEYH]

Some chickens don't eat or don't eat enough oyster shells. You should offer egg shells. If that don't work layers pellets with the added calcium in it.

 

[My Bagurks]

STAYCH is right. Chickens use a ton of protein molting and their body goes through a lot. Definitely add extra calcium supplement if they aren’t on a layer. And maybe even if they are. Have it separate from the feed. Chickens are good about self-regulating.

 

[Mrs. K]

And probably just glitches until it gets worked out, after molting.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Since you know which bird is the issue, you could try supplementing her with extra calcium for a few weeks and see if that's enough to fix it.

Isolate her for a private breakfast. 2-3x a week serve a small bowl (like 1 Tbsp is fine) of wet or fermented feed with oyster shell mixed in. If she does not like chunks of oyster shell, crush it up or use the powdery remnants from bottom of the bag. Should only take her minutes to eat and after that she's free to go.

Assuming her issue is simply insufficient calcium intake, you should see results in a week or two, and you can try reducing it to 1-2x a week and should hopefully continue getting good results. If you still have the same issue, then you might need to try pills of calcium citrate instead for a faster, bigger calcium boost.

 

[K0k0shka]

Is she the only hen currently laying? Sounds like it from your description, but it's not clear. Are all the hens the same age? If she's the only one currently laying, then the other hens aren't currently eating additional calcium, so there's no objective way of knowing if the calcium problem is with this hen in particular, or with your calcium supplement. How long did all the hens lay for before they started molting? If they are all about a year old, then they would've probably had a few months of laying before going into molt and stopping. Were they eating the oyster shell before that? Here are a couple of possibilities:

1) Everybody ate oyster shell pre-molt, then they stopped laying to molt, now one has resumed with soft shell eggs but the rest of the hens haven't resumed yet. Can you tell if this one hen is eating any oyster shell? It is possible that something happened to your oyster shell in the meantime, and she no longer likes or eats it. You say it's outside. Is it getting wet? Is it getting moldy? Does it smell? Have you tried replacing it with fresh OS?

2) Nobody ate OS to begin with, even pre-molt, because there was something wrong with it (wet etc.) or they just didn't like it. But since you only had a few months of laying, it wasn't enough for the deficiency to catch up with them and start showing. When the hen doesn't have enough immediately available calcium to use for her eggs, her body will draw on its reserves, compromising her bones and other calcium deposits. I don't know how long she can do that before problems arise. It probably depends on how deep her reserves were. And now that it's been long enough, her deficiency is starting to show - hence the soft shell eggs.

Seems to me there might be a problem with the OS, rather than this one hen. See if replacing it completely will help, and see if she's eating any. Just to be on the safe side, offer plenty of crushed eggshells, too. Chickens prefer eggshells over OS. And make sure both OS and eggshell are offered in containers inside the coop, where they can't get wet or soiled. I don't know about OS because I don't use it, but eggshell smells horrible if it's been left wet.

 

[unbaked pegga]

Right now she is the only one laying. One of the Orpingtons laid a couple a month or so then she stopped . My little sex link actually laid an egg yesterday but the shell was so thin that I cracked it I while carrying it in the house. Then today a shellless egg again. I even put a small can of cat food every day so she could have extra protein. And she acts like she absolutely is starving to death. She actually growls when the others come around and if I toss scratch in them ther areas to give others An opportunity to eat and she runs to each area ant starts eating their scratch. And I keep 2 big things of calcium flakes, I had them on pellets at first but they wouldn’t eat it or grit either. It’s obvious some thing is not going right in all of them. She started laying at 4 months the others much later and they haven’t been consistent layers at all. But they all look like plump healthy chickens all except her. You can’t tell how light and fragile she is until you pick her up. Her little keel bone sticks out. But like I said she acts good, active, very friendly, cute as a bug. I guess I will just enjoy her and see what happens. I think everyone has quit molting, just a feather or two here and there. She molted much later than the others and while I think she’s finished I’m still seeing a few feathers

 

[dawg53]

Try giving the hen in question vitamin D, it helps with calcium absorption.

 

[chickengr]

I currently have a few leghorns that lay soft shelled eggs and have just discovered they have tapeworms.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I currently have a few leghorns that lay soft shelled eggs and have just discovered they have tapeworms.

That would explain the ravenous appetite combined with being so underweight and unthrifty.