Quote:
You might look on this link for possible causes. It is not a breed issue.
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs
I'm not sure if you are talking about one hen or several. You mentioned hens once but then you also said both. I'm a bit confused.
If it is consistent, it is probably not fright or disturbance.
If it is several, a disease could be involved.
If it is only one and she has just started to lay, it could be that she does not have all the kinks worked out of her egg laying factory. If it has been going on a while, she may have a defective shell gland. If it has been consistent for a while and is only one, a defective shell gland is what I would assume.
If you are not feeding Layer or you give them lots of treats low in calcium, maybe you have one that does not have the proper instincts to eat the oyster shell. This would be really unusual, but they are living animals. Anything can happen. Occasionally you find a kid that does not like candy. Like I said, extremely rare.
If it is only one that has been doing this, you might try altering her diet where she has no option but to eat Layer and nothing else and see if the egg shells improve, depending on how they have been eating. Or you might try isolating her and finding ways to increase her calcium intake, like maybe adding some oyster shell directly to her feed. I hate forcing healthy chickens to eat more of something that can hurt them if they eat it in excess just because of one hen, but you might even try that for a week or so for the whole flock. Eating excess calcium for a short time period won't hurt them. It has a cumulative effect that builds up over time.
Good luck with it.
