Year-old hen laying soft eggs

[mgchik]

I have a year-old hen that started laying soft/no-shelled eggs (membrane, white & yolk) about mid June. This was about the same time we integrated our new chicks and old ones. Up until then, she had normal eggs 4-5 times weekly since last August, even through winter. A few weeks ago, she had some watery poop & messy butt so we isolated her from the rest of the flock for about a week and she seemed to improve, didn't even notice any soft eggs. After I put her back in with the others I started noticing the no-shelled eggs again. Yesterday when she laid the egg, she had about 5-6 squirts of clear water to follow and then went to the nesting box and sat for about 5 minutes. She gets layer feed with added oyster shell & grit and gets to free-range daily. She shows no signs of being sick, respiratory issues, worms, etc. Her comb and wattle is still bright red. And all my others are fine. We're in SWVA and temps have been pretty hot. Any clues? TIA!

 

[Kiki]

My first guess would be worms. Can you collect some fresh poop and run it over to the nearest vets office? Fecal tests are cheap.

 

[Kiki]

Worms usually aren't seen ...and only roundworms can be seen when they are so full y infested with them and there is no more room in their body to hold more do they poop them out.

 

[Farmgirl47]

At one point we had some chickens laying soft-shelled eggs, and we were told that they needed more calcium in their diet.

"A hen needs calcium to form the shell around each egg, and a diet that consists of good-quality layer feed plus free-choice crushed eggshell or oyster shell normally is sufficient to ensure nice hard shells." So what causes them? Causes: 1) Young layers often lay soft-shelled eggs when they are first getting started."

 

[mgchik]

It seems none our local veterinarians do fecal testing for chickens. Would it hurt to de-worm the entire flock?

 

[Kiki]

It seems none our local veterinarians do fecal testing for chickens. Would it hurt to de-worm the entire flock?

Probably not.

 

[sbhkma]

It could be that she's not eating enough as well and not getting enough water. Mine are not eating much in this heat and one of them is molting, which makes her appetite almost non-existent-at least she's drinking. She's getting tube-fed twice a day right now so she doesn't waste away. How's her crop? Full at night, empty in the morning? Squishy, hard or normal? And no, wouldn't hurt to deworm the flock. If you deworm one, deworm em all. I would think a local vet would be willing look look at the droppings to look for worms, even if it's not a dog or cat! I'm sorry...that must be frustrating.

 

[Kiki]

It could be that she's not eating enough as well and not getting enough water. Mine are not eating much in this heat and one of them is molting, which makes her appetite almost non-existent-at least she's drinking. She's getting tube-fed twice a day right now so she doesn't waste away. How's her crop? Full at night, empty in the morning? Squishy, hard or normal? And no, wouldn't hurt to deworm the flock. If you deworm one, deworm em all. I would think a local vet would be willing look look at the droppings to look for worms, even if it's not a dog or cat! I'm sorry...that must be frustrating.

I've actual done an experiment not too long ago.
I called around to local vet's in my area...NOT one of the ones I called saw chickens but all were willing to do a fecal test on poop if I brought it in AND not one of them was going to charge me more than $18.00 for the test.

 

[sbhkma]

I've actual done an experiment not too long ago.
I called around to local vet's in my area...NOT one of the ones I called saw chickens but all were willing to do a fecal test on poop if I brought it in AND not one of them was going to charge me more than $18.00 for the test.

That makes more sense than a vet simply refusing to run a fecal test just because it's a chicken. Thanks!

 

[Kiki]

If OP cares to share their town/city I'd be willing to call the vets in that area myself.
I love experiments like this!!