Thin shelled eggs and other oddities

[MandS]

I've read a lot about thin shelled eggs and have had quite a few of them in the past. In all but one case, it was a lack of enough calcium which I simply supplemented their feed. They did have oyster shell but some just wouldn't eat it. Only one hen had a problem that never resolved however she eventually stopped laying and lived an egg free life until she died about a year later from old age.

However I've now started seeing a new problem with our new batch of rescue bats. Some lay very weak or nonexistent shells. Others have misshapen eggs, ridges etc, and some have powdery shells (blooming).

I've given more calcium, am cutting out the ACV for a few weeks and giving cod liver oil for calcium absorption. It's not working.

I'm after advice as to what to do next or what to check/look for. Could this be worms? There's no sign of any in the poop and some hens are laying fine. Could it be an infection? No signs of breathing problems or sneezing.

At a bit of a loss but they were laying perfect eggs up to about 2 months ago. The only common factor is that the hens that lay brown eggs are fine. The ones that lay lighter eggs have the problem, however I think that must be a coincidence. They are in 3 separate runs and the hens with the issues are scattered across all three.

Any advice would be very helpful indeed.

 

[WingsysRoost]

What breed are they? What is their feeding and watering situation like? How old are they?

How is the body condition of the ones laying the unusual shells, compared to the hens who are laying typical eggs? How is the coloring of the face and comb? (Pale? Normal?)

 

[Perris]

I've now started seeing a new problem with our new batch of rescue bats. Some lay very weak or nonexistent shells. Others have misshapen eggs, ridges etc, and some have powdery shells (blooming).

I'm sorry to present a downer, but I'm afraid you are dealing with the reasons why they are EX- batts. Commercial farms get rid of them just before the consequences of their miserable lives up to that point start showing. I doubt there is much you can really do to unwind 18 months of living in an overcrowded shed eating minimum rations to produce maximum eggs. That's why they are called 'spent' hens. Their problems are not because of what you are doing or not doing. And it has been observed in the industry for decades that brown egg layers seem a bit more robust than white egg layers, so that's explained by their history too.

I would just offer them whatever is a normal diet to them, and lots of TLC. Adding stuff that upsets their microbiomes probably won't help and may well make them feel worse.

 

[MandS]

Thanks for both responses.

It's made me see some other commonalities. Good questions too and here are the answers:

What breed are they? Red sexlinks - commercial brown hens.

What is their feeding and watering situation like? They have layers pellets, which includes minerals and calcium. They have grit and oyster shell on tap. They get scratch of an evening, although I've stopped that over the last 3 weeks to ensure they weren't eating that rather than their pellets. I only gave a handful of scratch in an evening, it isn't on tap. When out of the run, they mainly eat grass. Only a couple forage for bugs. Water is on tap in little self filling cups. I included ACV in their water.


How old are they? They are about 2 years and a few months.

How is the body condition of the ones laying the unusual shells, compared to the hens who are laying typical eggs? This is an excellent question because I've just looked at them all as an homogenised group. Their condition was awful when we got them - no feathers at all on most of them. They ones who are not laying well are still scruffy - bare backs and feathers on wings that are threadbare and bleached. They didn't obviously moult like the others did.


How is the coloring of the face and comb? Very good, normal, red.

I've had these girls since September. I've posted about them before because I lost one within a fortnight when we got them. I cannot stress how poor condition they were in. The poultry farm was closed after they were rescued. They managed to save about 2000 but 25000 were slaughtered, which ironically was probably a release for the poor things.

Other than laying issues, they are happy and very friendly. They follow me around, fly up onto my lap and sit with me through choice. The moment I go into their run, they gather around me and start dust bathing!

I hope there's something mineral or vitamin at play. I've also never wormed them as I didn't see any signs of worms but that might be my next step. Just to reiterate, they were laying fine before and this is something that has taken shape over the last month.

One girl has always laid odd eggs. They were until recently shelled ok but they always floated due to their being a much larger air sack in the egg. Also this air sack was full of little bubbles, not one large pocket of air. Her eggs were fine to eat though. Her plumage is pretty good though, she moulted and referee her feathers pretty quickly.

I've included this photo of 4 of them. Two layers, two problem layers. You can probably tell which are which!

Thanks again, and I hope my answers throw more light on the matter.

 

[Perris]

you might find Shadrach's thread on the rescues he tends useful
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rescued-chickens-thread.1502267/post-25135734

 

[MandS]

Thank you. Longest thread I've ever seen though! I've searched it for soft shell. Got some info.

 

[MandS]

Alas, things have not improved.

I have now got 4 hens out of 8 laying thin shelled eggs. I did a few days of feeding them mash with 3/4 of a Tum for each been (fed separately) which did improve things but then quickly tailed off.

Today I have one hen who is standing with her eyes shut and her wings down. I have given her a warm bath in Epsom salts but she is not taking any water or able to take a tums directly. I did a digital inspection and it did help her to squirt out some clear albumin type liquid. There was no yolk visible in it. She squirted out about an egg cup full but it didn't seem to relieve her problem. She's just standing. Breathing is the same as when a hen is laying - that kind of catatonic state they get into just before they lay the egg.

I have isolated her and kept her in the dark but I don't know what to do now. Is there an infection that does this as they're all on layers pellets and have access to oyster shell?

By the way, she's always looked like this. She's never grown feathers since we rescued her in September.

I'm really at a loss and could do with any advice please.

 

[MandS]

She passed. Gently. Breathing was clear, no gurgling. She died in my arms. I'm so glad I was with her.

She had such a horrible life before we got her. She seemed to enjoy life with us, dust bathing, scratching around and dominating the others. You can see her in my first photo, she's the second from the bottom - just doing her thing. She always did the little dance when I went into the coop - the only one who did and every night, she'd be on her perch with her head tucked into her (fairly fatherless) wing.

9 months seems very short but for her, I hope it was a much nicer time.

It's a strange thing but I think each one of these little girls we have in our temporary care is a blessing that never fails to teach me something. Painful though it is when they go, I know my life was a little bit richer for them being in it, even if only for such short periods of time.

I'm getting older and I don't think I'll ever stop keeping chickens until I'm too old to look after them properly but it doesn't get any easier when I have to say goodbye.

Goodnight Tiggy. Rest well and enjoy whatever comes next.

 

[MandS]

I still need help. Anyone?

 

[LaFleche]

I still need help. Anyone?

Hello @MandS ,

I am sorry your rescue hen passed, but looking at her condition I think it was for the best.

As @Perris already pointed out, they are spent hens showing lots of health issues due to artificially triggered excessive laying during their time as commercial layers.

Most of them are suffering from severe infections of the oviduct and kidney failure and sadly, there is nothing one can do to save them or make things better.

I included ACV in their water.

I would stop the continuous ACV immediately as it interferes with their calcium uptake. But even without the ACV their eggshells might not get better.

Brittle eggshells, eggs way too big for the hens' oviduct and resulting health issues etc. are some of the reasons commercial farms get rid of these hens after such a short time.