Why is my leghorn now laying wrinkled eggs

[pfarrell442]

Hi. I have 3, 1-year old LegHorns. They used to lay without issue but now Dolores, my smallest one is often laying rubber eggs, getting a shell stuck after passing the yolk and in between it all she lays normal eggs. Well normal in the sense that they are shelled. they have always been porcelain thin. now, since the first rubber egg, when she does lay a solid egg it has a wrinkle on the shell. its a raised wrinkle that is the same each time. could there be an internal issue? she otherwise seems fine. i feed all my girls good layena, they free range and eat grasses and plants, i give them yogurt in oatmeal with honey every morning. they also get oyster shell. i do notice that Dolores is often picked on and probably gets less to eat for running away from her sisters. i hand feed her mealworms and yogurt with apples in the morning sometimes. we also love to go earthwormin' in the garden now and again. she is a great little chicken and i love her for her spunk. i wish she' smack the others when they pick on her.... keeping an eye on them all. but for the soft eggs and the random stuck shell.... i am worried she will never be 100% again.

I give all the girls a vitamin boost in their water too. I haven't tried Apple Cider Vinegar yet. figured I'd let the booster make its way into their routine.

 

[4 the Birds]

Wrinkled eggs are common when a lot of scratch is fed instead of standard layer feed. Lower the "treats" level a little and your eggs will be less wrinkled. The eggs are fine but look funky! You can give some crushed oyster shell for calcium if the shells are thin. Hope this helps!

 

[Majd]

I just want to say that ur doing great and taking great care of your chickies.. but I would stop EARTH WORMS because they carry lots of parasites and can cause worms... etc... so meal worms are good... with oyster shell given... do you see them eating it... if yes it could be a missed up egg.. we had chickens laying a bit wrinkled eggs on the end or so... or others lay their egg in the same pattern every day like when it has ruggy shell...

 

[pfarrell442]

ooh. no feeding my chickens earth worms.... i never realized since the dig some up on their own whilst in the yard grazing. i will check my chickens poop for worms tomorrow. i do not see the girls eating the oyster shells. i will be pulverizing the shells into smaller pieces. i surely do think they get enough calcium with all the yogurt they eat.

i thank you for your thoughts on the earthworms.

 

[pfarrell442]

oh and yes... i have seen little wrinkles on the ends of some eggs. the eggs i worry about have a Harry Potter kind of thunderbolt in the middle... about 1 inch wide, stands up from the egg by about 1/16th of an inch and is ziggy zaggy. every egg comes out this way... been happening since the stuck egg episode. taking an egg to the county fair this weekend. need answers. someone told me to get my girl a hysterectomy. that may solve the problem but heck... on the edge of extreme.... i will just keep Dolores close by. i know when she lays and what to expect from her by now.

 

[chooks4life]

It is an internal issue (of course) but what exactly causes it I can't say for sure. Several diseases affect the laying tract. If it were just shell-less membrane-covered eggs it'd be one thing, but since they are shelled sometimes, I think whatever it is causes insufficient calcium laydown or synthesization. Overdose of anything is as bad as under-dose. You may be feeding the right amount but what's happening inside the animal may negate that.

I would possibly get her another source of calcium and try that on her. If she's laying eggs that lack calcium, maybe she's not processing it correctly. What sort of yogurt are you feeding her? As in what's on the ingredients list? Some additives fed to humans are prohibited or just not good to feed to animals (us too, but we love our toxins).

Overdose of any vitamin or mineral robs the body of others, and under-dose locks away (within fat) the vitamins and minerals until the full spectrum is present to properly synthesize it. This is why artificial or altered or synthetic vitamin and mineral supplements are harmful s compared to natural ones. It's also why an obese pet can die of malnutrition.

Maybe try her on children's/human's calcium tablets, some folks do it without an issue. Do you feed the crushed up eggshells back to your hens? Maybe your hen is one of those who doesn't cope with dairy products too well. Some genetic lines among my hens don't inherit or sustain the right intestinal flora/fauna to digest lactose, but most are fine with it; even those that can't get everything they need out of it still eat it with gusto. Any animal that is very keen to get extras or treats is not getting enough in its diet of something; this may not be your fault or the diet's insufficiency, but rather is often an insufficient ability to synthesize in the bird itself.

I would start her on kelp to regulate her hormones (powerful endocrine regulator) --- it'll start non layers laying, so it will get anything underpowered in her reproductive tract firing on all thrusters. I would assume you know what kelp is but some folks don't so I'll add: it's a seaweed that contains the full vitamin and mineral spectrum in the correct dosages and chemical makeup, and is fed to everything from humans to their livestock and pets; it can change white hair to black or its original color, and will show you if your birds are purebred --- after a year of having a pinch per bird per day, any pure white bird that does not have pure white genes will show it, as an example. Many animals are only colored the way they are because the 'complete nutrition' in storebought feeds is actually better described as 'base-survival-rations' nutrition. Kelp is sold in health food stores and produce shops.

Kelp can be bought in dried and powdered or granulated forms, but should not be fed cooked because that's damaging its value. A pinch per bird per day is all it takes.

It may take a year to show the full benefits because the body starts replacing less-robust cells immediately, it goes into rebuild and may even slow production a little. But after that rebuild they will be very healthy and produce for many years to come. Offspring will start becoming healthier and better with every single generation onwards, you can compare different clutches of chicks from the same parents, pre-kelp and post-kelp and see the differences. Huge differences in everything.

It raises intelligence in everything that eats it because that's what full nutrition does. It prevents many illnesses and helps with everything since a healthy body is a powerful fighter and adapter. Kelp brings out the best genes. If in doubt, please, put it to the test; raise some birds, (even your worst) on kelp for a year, see the difference. If you breed your worst birds after being on kelp for a year and compare their chicks with those from your best birds that are not on kelp, the offspring from the worse parents will outshine the offspring from the better but kelp-free parents. It's that powerful, I don't think any breeder would breed without it, if they only knew... lol.

Anyway, best wishes.

 

[Eggcessive]

I haven't heard that about feeding scratch, but I know that a disease called infectious bronchitis (IB) can cause wrinkled eggs. Symptoms are sneezing and runny noses, sometimes worse, but that disease generally affects many chickens in the flock, not just one. If it isn't that, I would say that Delores could have some internal laying issues down the road, but I would feed her extra calcium. She may not be eating the oystershell, but my chickens love when I stand there and put crushed egg shells out for them--they act like it is a treat. You could save some for her each day. Calcium tablets also can be crushed up.

 

[sumi]

oh and yes... i have seen little wrinkles on the ends of some eggs. the eggs i worry about have a Harry Potter kind of thunderbolt in the middle... about 1 inch wide, stands up from the egg by about 1/16th of an inch and is ziggy zaggy. every egg comes out this way... been happening since the stuck egg episode. taking an egg to the county fair this weekend. need answers. someone told me to get my girl a hysterectomy. that may solve the problem but heck... on the edge of extreme.... i will just keep Dolores close by. i know when she lays and what to expect from her by now.

It sounds from your description like "body checked" or broken and mended eggs. The egg shell gets cracked/broken during the calcification process and gets repaired by the shell gland before the hen lays it. It's usually caused by stress and is also more common with older layers.

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

 

[pfarrell442]

Wow... thanks for all the helpful info. I feeding them kelp over the weekend. Never knew it was so powerful. I researched a little on my own and may add it to my own diet.

this is such a helpful site made up of such generous and kind folks. i am glad i joined.

 

[chooks4life]

Great to hear you'll give kelp a try, it's been amazing for us. I started using kelp when I first started keeping poultry, and the normal health of the flock was so outstanding I got blase about it, started to doubt kelp's ultra-importance... So I tested without it for a few months, and I stand corrected! I won't consider keeping poultry without feeding it as a staple ever again. Saves me so much in the way of health issues with all my animals and myself, when I bother to put in the same amount of time on my health that I put into theirs, that is.

Best wishes to you and your flock.