Thin-shelled inedible eggs

[Henrietta02]

My two year old chicken, Toulouse, has been laying thin-shelled eggs for a while now. Sometimes they’re already cracked and oozing out in the egg box or when we crack them, we find the egg white is cloudy and the yolk doesn’t hold together. She is totally healthy looking and normal yet she continues to lay these bad eggs that we have to throw out. Today, she layed the worst one yet, no shell to speak of, just a membrane, squishy and see-through. What’s wrong with her? Can anything be done?

 

[TooCheep]

A number of possibilities. The most likely answer would be nutritional deficiencies. Please answer the following:

• Is she your only chicken? If not, are others laying normally?
• What are you feeding her? Does she free range?

 

[Henrietta02]

• We have two other chickens and they are laying normally although noticeably less than they used to, but that might just be because they’re getting older.
• We recently switched to a new feed, NatureWise Layer Feed 16% protein pellet to see if that would make a difference from the Dumor layer feed we used to buy but haven’t noticed her eggs getting better.
• Yes, our chickens free range quite luxuriously.

 

[TooCheep]

Hmmm... Sounds pretty reasonable. I gather your other two's eggs are normal? Also, what breed is she? Two years old is well within normal laying age.

If it is just the one, then I'd lean towards some kind of disease. Most issues (like food quality) would be more likely to affect all three. But I'm getting to the limit of my knowledge. I did find a very good article on egg quality problems. Try reading it and see if you can find any likely candidates: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[aart]

I'd look at diet before disease.
Could be she's just not getting enough calcium and/or not eating enough feed because of ranging.
Put out some Oyster Shells...and feed nothing but the layer feed, no treats.
Is it hot where you live?
Do they have plenty of cool fresh water?