Thin shell at the top?

[Stablecoop]

Our 2 year old Americana has been laying eggs for the last 2 weeks that are a bit bumpy/rough and thin shelled at the top. The other 14 hens are laying eggs with nice thick shells. She lays blue eggs and the coloring has been a little darker at the top too. We feed sunrise organic layer feed and always have oyster shells free choice. She came back into laying about a month ago and all was fine until 2 weeks ago. The flock shows no signs of infectious bronchitis. What do you think the issue could be?

 

[aart]

Not sure I would assume a wonky shell gland is due to serious disease.
Sometimes they just go funky, especially in their second or third season of laying.

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Our 2 year old Americana has been laying eggs for the last 2 weeks that are a bit bumpy/rough and thin shelled at the top. The other 14 hens are laying eggs with nice thick shells. She lays blue eggs and the coloring has been a little darker at the top too. We feed sunrise organic layer feed and always have oyster shells free choice. She came back into laying about a month ago and all was fine until 2 weeks ago. The flock shows no signs of infectious bronchitis. What do you think the issue could be?

Eggs often vary widely. Most often for no real reason. If they arent already maybe you could try supplementing their diet with calcium (layer feed, oyster shell), but I would imagine her system is just working a bit off for a bit. Doesnt sound like anything serious to me!

 

[aart]

Is your feed cracked grain?
If so, might want to think about fermenting or at least soaking it, so the granular minerals/vitamins/amino acids are distributed fully.
Hard to know if that one hen is eating the OS.

 

[rosemarythyme]

2 separate things here, so...

We feed sunrise organic layer feed that does have cracked grain in it. How long do I soak it? And what feeders should I use for this? Right now we have the galvanized hanging feeders, I can’t imagine putting wet food and it going well lol. Thanks aart we will try this.

You'll find a lot of threads on fermented feed on here (especially the Feeding & Watering forum) but here's a pretty basic explanation of it: https://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

As far as how to feed it, open feeders are ideal - I use cat food bowls and ramekins, other folks use pie pans, troughs made from gutters, etc. Do NOT ever use a gravity feeder for fermented feed, you'll just get a clogged mess.

Should we give this hen some extra calcium? I have powdered calcium I could mix into a scrambled egg. What do you think?

If you know exactly which bird is the problem bird, 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.

 

[aart]

I just saw this bird vomit.

Had she just drank a lot of water?
Sometimes the crop overflows.

This is what I do if I have a bird that seems off.
I isolate bird in a wire cage within the coop for a day or two....so I can closely monitor:
-their intake of food and water,
-crop function(checking at night and in morning before providing more feed),
-and their poops.
Feel their abdomen, from below vent to between legs, for squishy or hard swelling.
Check for external parasites or any other abnormalities.


Best to put crate right in coop or run so bird is still 'with' the flock.
I like to use a fold-able wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller mesh(1x2) on bottom of crate under tray.
Then you can put tray underneath crate to better observe droppings without it being stepped in. If smaller mesh is carefully installed, tray can still be used inside crate.

 

[Stablecoop]

The very next day she laid a perfect egg. And yesterday she laid a perfect egg. SMH. Chickens are giving me gray hair. thank you everyone for your help.

 

[Stablecoop]

Yep, she’s been laying textbook perfect eggs since I posted this. Guess she just needed my blood pressure to rise. But through this I am learning about fermented feed and I am so thankful!!! You guys are the best.

 

[Perris]

Maybe mycoplasma? It is very common and the shell issues you describe are symptomatic of it. Photos might be useful for comparison.

 

[Stablecoop]

Maybe mycoplasma? It is very common and the shell issues you describe are symptomatic of it. Photos might be useful for comparison.

Thank you so much. I am not seeing any of the symptoms of mycoplasma, could it still be this? The other 14 hens are normal and laying great eggs. We tossed the most recent eggs but I will post a pic if she lays another one today. Thank you again for your help!