Watery Poo & Odd Shaped/Soft Shelled Eggs

[Brever]

First, apologies for not being able to find the list of symptoms/conditions to answer, I will try my best to remember from other posts I've read.

I brought a point of lay Sussex hen a few months ago who has finally started laying in the past week. First, I noticed that she consistently did watery poos - I have seen her do 3 solid ones to date (and I'm watching). Her first egg was "angular" and large with a rough shell and quite large. It was also white, although Sussex hens are supposed to lay orange eggs, so I put this down to "first lay attempt." She's been in the box a few times since then but thismorning I found a broken egg in there. It has a paper thin shell on it (no doubt her weight would have broken it). So at this point I'm a little worried about her functions.

I have 2 other chickens (leghorn and barnevelder), who are perfectly fine; all eat the same food and hang out together. I noticed on another post somebody with a similar problem noted their hen drank a lot more than the others, and I have noticed this with her as well; she'll stop eating to go have a drink, then come back and start eating/regurgitating (only once on the ugg boot, lesson learned).

They are completely free range birds, but they get fed laying mash several times a day (small feeds due to bush turkeys). The only other thing worth mentioning is she has a pretty dirty ass, to be honest. I tried to give it a hose today (as I've lost one to being flyblown previously), but that really only resulted in me wearing her watery poo

I've seen a lot of suggestions about adding grit to her feed, but all my chickens have eaten the same feed and none of the others have had a problem, so I'm really just trying to work out if there's something possibly more serious going on here.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Cynthia12]

I honestly don't think there is a problem. The biggest may be, the dirty bottom. Drinking a lot of water causes the watery poo. Are you having warm weather where you are? We have had a lot of hot weather, and I always see flat white poo during the summer. You are right about her eggs. They can be pretty funky at first. Rubbery, soft shells, odd shapes, mo shell at all, and, being the wrong color, usually very light. Give her some time, she'll get it down. I have a hen I am worried about right now. She is trying to lay her first egg. Spent time on the nest yesterday, announced, but no egg. Again today, but spent longer on the nest today. Sure hoping for an egg tomorrow. First time I've had one take this long. But, they are all different. Love how the leghorn and sexlink get it right...right away. Going to see if I have a photo of one of my funny first time eggs.......flat on one side....

 

[Brever]

Thanks for the reply No warm weather, but this one spent a few days in the box before she laid an egg, to be honest I usually have Ingham's chickens or Leghorns which don't have any issues, so I'll just keep feeding her up and hopefully she starts laying hard shells at least. Here's a photo of her first egg; I'm calling it "the square egg" and it's not on the menu, haha!

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

One of our oldest chickens (roughly six months old) drinks extra water due to the heat. I know you said it isn't hot there, so I'm not sure what is causing your chickens thirst- but I can say that the watery poo and regurgitation are not signs of thin shells, as ours has solid ones every day.
My guess (and I mean guess, maybe shot in the dark is a better term) is that your new chicken is not used to the mash like the others are, and that's causing the issues.
We used to give our chickens all of our foodscraps and treats, and we had soft shells for the first week. We removed treats completely until hard shells came, then did a gradual reintroduction.
Hope that helps, and sorry I don't have anything more concrete!
Ryn.

 

[Brever]

Thanks Ryn, I'm just starting to wonder now if she maybe wolfs more of the treats than the rest of them... I'll keep an eye on her; she's bottom of the pecking order (despite being twice their size) but she's great at going under the radar (literally following around the leader with her head under leaders butt so she doesn't get noticed). Leader of course far too pre-occupied with fiesty barnevelder to notice. Wish I had something more concrete too

 

[Shadrach]

First, apologies for not being able to find the list of symptoms/conditions to answer, I will try my best to remember from other posts I've read.

I brought a point of lay Sussex hen a few months ago who has finally started laying in the past week. First, I noticed that she consistently did watery poos - I have seen her do 3 solid ones to date (and I'm watching). Her first egg was "angular" and large with a rough shell and quite large. It was also white, although Sussex hens are supposed to lay orange eggs, so I put this down to "first lay attempt." She's been in the box a few times since then but thismorning I found a broken egg in there. It has a paper thin shell on it (no doubt her weight would have broken it). So at this point I'm a little worried about her functions.

I have 2 other chickens (leghorn and barnevelder), who are perfectly fine; all eat the same food and hang out together. I noticed on another post somebody with a similar problem noted their hen drank a lot more than the others, and I have noticed this with her as well; she'll stop eating to go have a drink, then come back and start eating/regurgitating (only once on the ugg boot, lesson learned).

They are completely free range birds, but they get fed laying mash several times a day (small feeds due to bush turkeys). The only other thing worth mentioning is she has a pretty dirty ass, to be honest. I tried to give it a hose today (as I've lost one to being flyblown previously), but that really only resulted in me wearing her watery poo

I've seen a lot of suggestions about adding grit to her feed, but all my chickens have eaten the same feed and none of the others have had a problem, so I'm really just trying to work out if there's something possibly more serious going on here.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello Brever.
You don't say how old the hen is. Is this the first time she's laid an egg or did she lay eggs before you got her?
If this is her first attempt at laying eggs then odd shapes do seem to occur.
The egg coloring is the last process before the egg leaves the vent and the Marans here produced all sorts of shades of brown when they first start laying again after the winter break. I guess the guy in the paint spray booth takes longer holidays.
Watery shit again is quite normal here. A colour check can be a help sometimes; anything bright green or yellow needs investigating. The white stuff in the shit is I believe the water content (solids and water come out together).
Soft shells are a bit more worrying, and a calcium deficit is possible, especially as you write she has unconventional eating habits and there has been a diet change (?)
You could try some extra calcium if you think she may not be getting enough in the food.
I agree with the others in general, some hens take a bit of time to get all the processes that make a perfect egg working together.

 

[staceyj]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

I would make sure to give your chickens grit.
It helps strengthen their gizzard muscle.
Also are you offering oyster shell or dried crushed chicken egg shells?

The amount of calcium in layer feed is only a minimum amount and most hens require a supplement.
Without it they pull calcium from their own bones which weakens them and prevents them from laying eggs with strong shells.

 

[aart]

Her first egg was "angular" and large with a rough shell and quite large. It was also white, although Sussex hens are supposed to lay orange eggs, so I put this down to "first lay attempt."

She may just be having start up glitches.

but they get fed laying mash several times a day (small feeds due to bush turkeys).

She may be gulping food because she can't eat at her leisure, and around the more dominant birds schedule.
This won't be good for her overall health and digestion.
Did you get her with the other 2 birds from the same place?
How long have you had the birds?

The runny poops are concerning, they could be from excess water consumption or could be sign of disease.

Welcome to BYC @Brever...sorry you are having troubles.
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