Wrinkled Eggs for a While, now stopped laying

[jawadams]

Hey there,

I have seen lots of posts about "wrinkled eggs" but nothing where they shortly after, stopped laying them.

We have three chickens. One came with the house we bought and seems healthy.

The other two, we got from a factory and they were in really shape (and still are a bit since this was only a couple of months ago).

A while back, one of the factory hens laid a very thin shelled egg (broke when I picked it up). That only happened one time but then I started seeing one egg that was "wrinkly".

This went on for a couple days and then another one was laying them this way too (though not as bad).

I talked to a vet and he thought given that I had that thin shelled egg and that they were factory hens, it was likely calcium deficiency.

I bought some layer feed and started feeding them that. I also boil 2 eggs per day and crush it up with the shell and feed it to them now as well as giving them the water the eggs were boiled in to really try and maximize their calcium.

The only other food they get is a couple handfuls of sunflower seeds a day between the three of them and the occasional cabbage.

The second chicken's eggs went back to normal. The other's got somewhat better, then they were better (normal) then she had a couple really badly "wrinkled" ones again. Then her next one was almost normal (only slightly wrinkled).

It does seem like she's stopped laying altogether though. Now when I go out there are 1 or 2 eggs. I believe I'm getting one from one of the factory hens every day and the other one is from the chicken that came with the property (she seems to only lay every other day).

So it seems like the one who had the badly wrinkled eggs has stopped laying altogether.

I am worried she is "egg bound" but also thought maybe it's normal for them to have bad eggs before they stop laying altogether?

They all seem perky and act the way they always do when I come in.

Thanks!

 

[Hholly]

If it's winter where you are, or if your hen is molting, it's not abnormal for her to quit laying for a while. The wrinkled eggs could indicate that she had had infectious bronchitis at some point. Here's an interesting article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems
Good luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[jawadams]

Thanks, yeah I read that. It is winter here. Though it's been winter for a while. They also have a heat lamp in their coup on account of the two factory chickens not having a lot of feathers, so they have some extra light.

Could this also indicate she STILL has infectious bronchitis? My wife thinks our healthy chicken had it (or has it) and we've given her and the other chickens a few rounds of Tetracycline. How obvious is it? My wife said she heard her wheezing but I have never heard it.

 

[Hholly]

They can carry it for up to 6 months. If they have it at a certain stage in their development, it can permanently scar the oviduct. Since it's a virus the antibiotics won't clear it. But it's possibly why she quit laying. She might be putting her energy into fighting it off.
Here's more info: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/80/infectious-bronchitis-ib-egglayers/