Why is one of my hens laying almost white eggs, she is a wyandotte!?

[Frizzledmom]

Could someone give me a direction or an answer why one of my silver laced wyandottes are laying almost white, very thin shelled eggs? They also come very bumpy on the pointy end! She doesn't lay them like this all the time but when she does I get about 4 of the in a row then is a couple weeks later and it starts again. I'll do my best at some pictures!

Glenna
from New Hampshire

 

[gallusdomesticus]

The brown color of an egg is added at the end of the egg's travel through the hen's reproductive system. The brown color is a result of an enzyme taken out of the hemoglobin in her blood. The reasons for a paler than normal color could be a slight anemia but most likely its due to age. As hens grow older, their egg shells become less and less brown. Unlike their egg yolk, which you can darken by what you feed her, you can't do anything about the shell color. Most hatchery bred birds will have egg color shades that don't exactly match the breed standard. I have a 5 year old RIR that is laying pale eggs almost exactly like your picture. I wouldn't worry about it. As far as the this shell goes, make sure she has adequate amount of oyster shell available to her. A diet too low in calcium will cause the bird to take calcium out of her skeletal structure and produce thin shells.

Here is an excellent article from the University of Florida on egg formation process:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/ps/ps02900.pdf

 

[Frizzledmom]

All my hens are barely a year old so it can't be due to her age. I just recently lost one hen to what I think was she was egg bound, I don't want to lose another one. I just bought some oyster shell to help with that so lets see if that gets better. It hasn't been a cold winter but its their first winter. I'm still learning how to keep chickens, this was also my first winter with chickens.

Glenna