Wrinkled eggs... every day :(

[karigirl]

One of my ISA Brown hens has started laying wrinkled eggs- every day. She was gifted to me about 6 months ago and has been a fantastic layer. Huge, dark brown eggs almost every single day. I know she’s older, because tiny spurs are starting to grow. I don’t know her back story. She does not appear to be ill- no coughing/sneezing/runny nose etc. Eating, drinking, active. But her eggs (still huge) are now light in color and wrinkled- the whites are watery & brittle shell. No signs of IB. I’m assuming she’s just worn out. I’m feeding grower (mixed age flock) with oyster on the side. The rest of my flock is laying very well and their shells look great.

1. Do I need to worry?
2. Do I need to put her down, or do I just keep eating her eggs like normal?

Thank you!

 

[N F C]

Here's an article from the Learning Center that may be of interest to you:
common-egg-quality-problems.65923

All sorts of strange things can happen with eggs. I hope the article helps!

 

[coach723]

It may be her age, I don't have any hens with spurs, but most articles say that hens usually grow spurs after the age of 3. I'm sure there are exceptions to that, there usually are. Did she molt this year? If she's going into molt that may be contributing, glitches can happen when going into and out of lay. Any stress can cause egg anomalies. Even diet can contribute. I would not cull a bird for this unless it was causing her problems, but it depends on what your goals and priorities are. I personally would give it some time to see if it clears up. If not, you can decide what you want to do if anything.

 

[rebrascora]

I would try giving her a direct human calcium supplement to see if that will improve things. Calcium with vitamin D tablets are available from most larger stores or health food shops. I would crush one a day and sprinkle over some scrambled egg for a week and see if that improves her shell quality.
Has she moulted yet? Sometimes, when they get towards the end of their laying cycle their body becomes depleted of nutrients like calcium and egg/shell quality deteriorates (sometimes they lay shell less eggs too which really can take it out of them), so a direct dose of calcium can help to boost them for the final few days/weeks before they moult. I appreciate that you have oyster shell available for them but sometimes they don't take it for whatever reason and a human calcium tablet will be more easily absorbed by her body to hopefully give a faster result.
If that doesn't fix it, then she may have a shell gland problem which could lead to her developing an infection sooner or later if one of those fragile eggs breaks inside her. I would certainly continue to eat the eggs. Unfortunately you may find that they get broken in the nest box either whilst being laid or by other hens stepping on them when they go in to lay and possibly get eaten as a result. I had a blue haze hybrid that had the same problem. If the egg got broken I would find a soggy nest box with egg stains on the other eggs, but most of the broken egg and shell would have been eaten. Some days the shell would be so fragile you couldn't pick it up without denting the shell. She succumbed to a reproductive infection eventually.