What is egg drop syndrome

[BigBlueHen53]

And yes, I do provide OS free choice. I thought I knew who was the faulty bird and I did give her calcium citrate + D3 for a week, plus I switched temporarily to a layer formula, all to no effect.

 

[hiposner]

I'm aware that EDS is when hens lay eggs overnight that are thin-shelled or shell-less. I have a few questions, since my post egg bound hen has been laying very thin shelled eggs in the roost.

- Can my hens get EDS even though they are in a run with a roof and no access to wild birds?
- Can they get EDS even though I live in Northern Cali?
- Are there symptoms other than the weird eggs?
- Can it be cured?
- Is this caused by a potential lesion that occurred when she got egg bound by her shell less egg?

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
@Eggcessive
@Wyorp Rock

Did you ever figure out what it was or what to do? I have the exact same problem. Pullets were bought from a pretty dirty place in Northern California (santa rosa). Not sure if we should kill the suspected chicken or not?

 

[guest226]

Did you ever figure out what it was or what to do? I have the exact same problem. Pullets were bought from a pretty dirty place in Northern California (santa rosa). Not sure if we should kill the suspected chicken or not?

Yes, I figured it out. My hen was deficient in Calcium. This is just for one of my hens though. I gave her a bit more than half of this pill linked below that I found at my local pharmacy. Also I provided plenty of Oyster shells in a small contained in the run.

I fed her about 3/4s of this Calcium + D3 pill by breaking it into small pieces and giving it to my hen. I also coat it in coconut oil sometimes so it goes down. If they aren’t allowing you to then you can dissolve the pill in a bit of wet food. I fed her calcium once every day for 5 days or so. Too much use of this pill can cause issues so be careful. However overall it shouldn’t do any harm if done properly.

My hens ended up not having egg drop symdrome, but your hens might have different issues than mine. Be cautious when taking my advice, i’m not an expert on EDS or chickens in general!

Here’s the pill: https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960224216.html

How many of the pullets are laying thin shelled eggs? Did they have access to calcium before? If you just brought your hens from a far away they could be stressed from the change in surroundings.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, sorry I did not respond. Turned out my hen was stressed by the presence of a couple of black rat snakes living under the hen house and creeping around inside to steal eggs! It took me a couple of weeks but once I eliminated both snakes and gave my girl another CC+D3 tablet, all is well. I have gotten no more "jelly" or shell-less eggs since then. Oh, and I also had to completely replace all the shredded paper nesting material in all the nests, the hens did not like the smell where the snake had been and would not use the nests until I cleaned them out. I don't blame them, snakes stink.

 

[hiposner]

Yes, I figured it out. My hen was deficient in Calcium. This is just for one of my hens though. I gave her a bit more than half of this pill linked below that I found at my local pharmacy. Also I provided plenty of Oyster shells in a small contained in the run.

I fed her about 3/4s of this Calcium + D3 pill by breaking it into small pieces and giving it to my hen. I also coat it in coconut oil sometimes so it goes down. If they aren’t allowing you to then you can dissolve the pill in a bit of wet food. I fed her calcium once every day for 5 days or so. Too much use of this pill can cause issues so be careful. However overall it shouldn’t do any harm if done properly.

My hens ended up not having egg drop symdrome, but your hens might have different issues than mine. Be cautious when taking my advice, i’m not an expert on EDS or chickens in general!

Here’s the pill: https://www.albertsons.com/shop/product-details.960224216.html

How many of the pullets are laying thin shelled eggs? Did they have access to calcium before? If you just brought your hens from a far away they could be stressed from the change in surroundings.

Oh.. thanks. We thought it was calcium so we started giving her the pill, after 4 days she started laying again (weird sizes and very white) then after about a week it started again, we did the calcium, and the same cycle repeated. It seems strange that she's not able to maintain the calcium balance (has oyster and normal food and forages daily). She was stressed for sure and had diahria and blood in her stool when we brought her home. Gave her medicine and that seems cleared up, she seems very healthy now (we took her home in march). Out of curiosity where do you live?