Strange egg laying going on

[Boarding00n]

When you gave the hen oyster shell, did you give it for just a short time, or continue it every day?

If a hen is going to make an eggshell every day, she also needs to have calcium every day.

I think you should put some oyster shell in a container where she can eat it whenever she wants, and see if that helps with the eggshells. Hens are usually good at eating the right amount of oyster shell when it's right there and easy to get.

I don't know for sure about the 2 eggs at once. Either there's something mixed up about her body, or maybe it's a weird effect of not having the right amount of calcium. Since it did go away after you gave oyster shell, I'm guessing it's somehow caused by needing calcium. (Which does not make sense to me, so that's why it's just a guess.)

Like I mentioned before, I ground up oyster shells and mixed it in with her feed. Which I still have a bunch of it, so she should be getting enough calcium, but I will put out a container with just oyster shell and she can have at it.

Yeah the 2 eggs at once has happened easily a good 10-12 times now, oh and the soft shell eggs have all been double yolks.

 

[Boarding00n]

That's how my oyster shell looks.
What kind of feed are you giving her?
I wonder if the egg laying issues are related to the cross beak issue. Maybe something genetic?

This is the stuff I have bought thus far,

I got this for the baby chick

 

[NatJ]

Those feeds look like good choices, as long as the hen is eating mostly the egg layer meal, and only small amounts of the scratch.

Some hens just do need more calcium than others, and some other hens just do have problems or strange things about their bodies that cause weird eggs, especially when they first start laying, but yours is one of the strangest I've heard of!

Yeah the 2 eggs at once has happened easily a good 10-12 times now, oh and the soft shell eggs have all been double yolks.

So that hen has been producing two eggs, each with a softshell and a double yolk, on some days? Wow!

 

[aart]

The double yolks are probably due to her being a high production breed,
that might slow down after awhile.

You only have the one pullet and the one chick?
Hard to feed them separately as both need access to feed every hour they are awake.
I feed a 20% all flock type feed, with OS in a separate feeder for the active layers,
suits all ages and genders.

 

[NatJ]

You only have the one pullet and the one chick?
Hard to feed them separately as both need access to feed every hour they are awake.
I feed a 20% all flock type feed, with OS in a separate feeder for the active layers,
suits all ages and genders.

(No I don't have them currently living together but they are near each other and when outside they are loose together and the big one does not attack the little one)

Given that they are not living together at present, there's no problem feeding them separately.

I agree with aart about how to feed multiple ages that live together.
Or, it is also fine to feed chick starter to adult hens, as long as they have access to oyster shell for calcium. (Oyster shell goes in a separate dish so each chicken can choose how much of it to eat--they are usually good at eating the right amount of oyster shell for their own needs.)

 

[tdstanley43]

Is that oyster shell or grit? I didn't know oyster shell came like that.

The oyster shell i get from TSC looks the same way, i was surprised too when i saw it.

 

[Boarding00n]

So that hen has been producing two eggs, each with a softshell and a double yolk, on some days? Wow!

Yeah, I had mentioned it to my parents and they thought it was very weird.

On the bright side, this morning she laid a jumbo sized egg with hard shell. I looked over in to the "hutch" I built for her and it was like glowing lol

If she can keep that up, it'll be awesome.

 

[Boarding00n]

The double yolks are probably due to her being a high production breed,
that might slow down after awhile.

You only have the one pullet and the one chick?
Hard to feed them separately as both need access to feed every hour they are awake.
I feed a 20% all flock type feed, with OS in a separate feeder for the active layers,
suits all ages and genders.

Correct.

I haven't had a issue since I currently have them separate. I feed them once daily and now I have oyster shell in a separate container for them, plenty of water for the day but I do change the water at least once daily. Granted I am headed back to work this week, but one of my parents will swing by to keep an eye on them, let them out and it'll give my parents something to do. lol

 

[Boarding00n]

So, I found this today at TSC, though it says its for "game birds" I can't see it being bad for chickens, and with it being 30% protein that's really good. What do you guys think?

 

[NatJ]

So, I found this today at TSC, though it says its for "game birds" I can't see it being bad for chickens, and with it being 30% protein that's really good. What do you guys think?

It should be fine to give to chickens. With that high a protein, it's reasonable for them to also get some amount of scratch (whcih tends to be low in protein.)