Young hen laying 2 eggs at once - soft shelled

[Winchikn]

Hello,

I have a mixed flock of 11 hens and one roo. Six of my hens and my roo turn 7 this year - and I have 5 hens (2 caramel queens and 3 Welsummers) that we got as chicks last July - they are 7 months old today.

The young ones all came into lay in December and January and have been laying pretty well with the odd double-yolked egg. Over the last couple of weeks, I've found two soft-shelled eggs on the coop floor in the morning - two or three times. I though it was one of my older hens trying to come back into lay and having issues - but I now believe it's one of my young Welsummers, who I think laid a few double-yolked eggs but now seems to be releasing two eggs but unable to get a shell around them.

I can supplement her with calcium but feel that the bigger issue is that she keeps releasing two eggs at once. I'm guessing that between the double yolked and these double eggs, she's now laid about 7-8 rounds like this. Is there anything I can give her to help her regulate?

The flock is on 18% layer pellet with free choice oyster shell, and I give them black oil sunflower seeds - so they should have plenty of calcium. They have run of my orchard and also get to forage in my garden at times - so lots of room to roam.

Any advice is appreciated, as always.

 

[DobieLover]

I would still go ahead and supplement her with 630mg of calcium citrate with vitamin D (that is usually a 2 tablet dose - I give one tablet approx every 12 hrs for 1 week). Her reproductive system is still immature at only 7 months old. These types of issues typically resolve themselves upon full maturation but supporting her during this time is never a bad idea.

 

[Winchikn]

I would still go ahead and supplement her with 630mg of calcium citrate with vitamin D (that is usually a 2 tablet dose - I give one tablet approx every 12 hrs for 1 week). Her reproductive system is still immature at only 7 months old. These types of issues typically resolve themselves upon full maturation but supporting her during this time is never a bad idea.

Thank you. Calcium supplements started this evening!

This poor hen is one of the flightiest I've ever had. Her hatch mates will all come to me to be picked up, even though they were raised by one of my hens - but she is so scared. I got her off the roost tonight and she took the pill quite nicely. We'll see how the next 6-7 days go...

Fingers crossed she has some improvement as she had dropped another soft shelled off the roost this evening before I medicated her. (Her timing of lay is also odd, as she seems to be laying in the evening/at night...)

Thanks again.

 

[Winchikn]

So I did 3 days of twice daily calcium (300 mg) and have continued once a day.

She has stopped laying two eggs in quick succession and has managed to get a thin shell on since Tuesday, but her eggs are a bit slab-sided and today she laid this quite odd egg (hair pin for scale):

We’re leaving on vacation and I’m concerned that parasites could be an issue (I get roundworm in my flock). Would they cause issues with calcium uptake and lead to eggs like this?

If so, could I give her one round of safeguard even if I can’t follow up with the second round in 10 days?

I would then deworm her again when I do the rest of the flock when it dries up later in the spring.

Tks.