VERY irregular egg-laying: small eggs, no eggs, soft shells - all in the same chicken

[ashleyd]

I'm looking for insight into the egg-laying behavior of one of my hens - a two-year-old RIR. For the first year of her life, she laid like a champ, but this spring through now her egg-laying has been almost non-existent. Is this a reproductive system problem?

She has gone several weeks without laying at all, but she shows no signs of being egg-bound. She did have an illness that I diagnosed as worms (very runny poop, no appetite, lethargic), so I dosed her with Valbazen. She perked up shortly thereafter and even laid a few (albeit irregularly shaped) eggs. She still seems pretty healthy, but now she's resumed her boycott on laying.

In between, she has laid a few tiny eggs with no yolks and soft-shell eggs, but not many.

Has anyone else had experience with a hen that has stopped laying? Is there a treatable underlying disorder? Thanks for your help!

 

[BackyardFlock17]

Is there signs of another problem that could cause this?

 

[ashleyd]

She has had sour crop and leg mites. She's by far my most unhealthy hen, overall! Poor girl. I treated the sour crop with an antifungal; it cleared up and hasn't come back. I treated the leg mites with vaseline, and the mites seem to have gone away too. Her legs look much better now.