What in the world is this? Is my chicken sick!

[Jgrice]

Hey there,

I woke up this morning and I found this strange looking egg in the middle of the run. I have 4 hens, and 3 of them have been laying regularly. They all seem to be acting normal. The egg is basically like the consistency of wet paper with nothing inside. It looks like it’s really underdeveloped. Ive heard sometimes hens first eggs are super soft and weird. Is this that?

 

[azygous]

How old are the hens? How long have they been laying?

It appears to be a shell-less egg in your photo. This can happen at any time to any hen. Sometimes it indicates a harmless glitch in the egg cycle and it doesn't happen again. Other times, a shell-less egg indicates a reproductive issue, perhaps lack of calcium absorption, and it happens more often with hens that are approaching the end of their egg laying careers.

What you need to do is just keep an eye on your hens for signs of reproductive distress - lethargy, feathers fluffed, tail held low and flat or extended time spent in the nest without producing anything.

Learning which hens lay which eggs is also a helpful ability when it comes to figuring out which hen may be having issues. Each egg is different in size shape and color (except white). It shouldn't be too hard with just four.

 

[Jgrice]

How old are the hens? How long have they been laying?

It appears to be a shell-less egg in your photo. This can happen at any time to any hen. Sometimes it indicates a harmless glitch in the egg cycle and it doesn't happen again. Other times, a shell-less egg indicates a reproductive issue, perhaps lack of calcium absorption, and it happens more often with hens that are approaching the end of their egg laying careers.

What you need to do is just keep an eye on your hens for signs of reproductive distress - lethargy, feathers fluffed, tail held low and flat or extended time spent in the nest without producing anything.

Learning which hens lay which eggs is also a helpful ability when it comes to figuring out which hen may be having issues. Each egg is different in size shape and color (except white). It shouldn't be too hard with just four.

Thank you! It actually just started laying about 3 weeks ago. They’re about 5 months old. So, I’m anticipating it’s just a fluke situation.

 

[Grace8269]

Your chickens lack calcium. When their eggs are soft-shelled, it is a sign of calcium deficiency. You should feed them oyster shells (if you have them), and you should crush up hard shells and feed it to them. You should be careful with calcium deficiency, because hens who lack calcium tend to get stuck eggs, which tend to be fatal.

 

[Jgrice]

Your chickens lack calcium. When their eggs are soft-shelled, it is a sign of calcium deficiency. You should feed them oyster shells (if you have them), and you should crush up hard shells and feed it to them. You should be careful with calcium deficiency, because hens who lack calcium tend to get stuck eggs, which tend to be fatal.

Thank you, that’s strange because I feed them crushed egg shells about twice a week and oyster shells about once a week. Plus layer feed which has extra calcium in it...

 

[dawg53]

Thank you! It actually just started laying about 3 weeks ago. They’re about 5 months old. So, I’m anticipating it’s just a fluke situation.

I agree with you. They'll get it right in time.

 

[Chikaroo]

Usually nothing to worry about. With some really old hens ive found that some try to squeeze out an egg but it has a paper thin shell. With younger hens like yours its usually just a glitch. Make sure you feed them oyster shell etc because it can sometimes mean they dont have enough calcuim.

 

[Doc7]

Thank you, that’s strange because I feed them crushed egg shells about twice a week and oyster shells about once a week. Plus layer feed which has extra calcium in it...

just leave a tin can of oyster shells nailed To the coop or run interior wall at all times.