Hen consistently laying softshell or no shell eggs?

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andythescot

andythescot

Songster
11 Years
Nov 29, 2009
199
59
201
Central Mass
Hi all,

I have this one Rhode Island who's something like two years old that is laying softshell eggs, or shell less eggs. The other birds currently laying are laying perfectly normal eggs. If provide crushed oyster shell, free choice as well. For a few weeks now this bird has been laying these softshell eggs. Sometimes I'd find the full soft egg, other times I'd find the soft shell broken with yolk and albumen everywhere, and sometimes I'd find no shell and just yolk or albumen.

I had just figured out it was this hen this morning, when I watched her lay, and just fluids were coming out of her vent. Then a few minutes later I found a broken shelled soft egg, with one of my BOs eating the contents.

Any and all help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank
 
Sounds like she is having issues with her eggshell production system. This can be caused by such things as old age, infection of the shell gland, inhibited calcium absorption due to vitamin D3 deficiency.

Here is a PDF to read on this issue and related ones.

Eggshell defects and dietary deficiencies




And what it looks like in real life:

 
Thank you so much!!! Now the thing is, what to do now? Should I isolate her and give additional vitamins or something? Or is there like some sort of layer medicine out there?
 
You can get regular D3 from cod liver oil. Just put it on her feed. Or, you could use dry milk and mix it with her feed. Sometimes I make oatmeal and mix it with dry milk for the chickens, they love it cooked and stiff.

You should see an improvement within a couple of weeks. If it doesn't improve then you may have to look at some form of infection of the shell gland as your culprit. That may be more expensive than you care to take on.

If it were me, and it aint, I would first go with isolation and then get her on a tx schedule for vitamin d3, b12 and E. If no improvement within 2 weeks then I would cull her.

Also, if you have the time and can see your bird during the day. Read this page and see if any of these symptoms present in your bird. It may help you to eliminate or narrow down your problem.

Good luck and hope she makes it.

Jim

P.S. forgot to put the link in for the page to read. Sorry, getting oldtimers...

Diagnosis and treatment for egg disorders
 
Last edited:
I have a cuckoo marans that I have to feed crushed egg shell to. Otherwise she lays soft or shell-less ones too. I tried the oyster shell but she would not eat it so I crush up egg shells and drop them to her or mix them in the feed for them all.
 

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