Stopped laying could it be the fermented feed?

[rosemarythyme]

Did you switch feeds completely versus gradually making the switch?

How long ago was the last egg? How recently were the new birds added?

As far as calcium, chickens can very easily swallow a tablet, just push it in there. The water was the dangerous component.

 

[nuthatched]

I thought about that but what about the 12 week olds? Not sure how I could separate it from them they like to stay all together.

Can you break it in half?
I forgot about the pullets. 17% on the low side for a grower, minimum is usually %18.
I'd work on feeding her the tablets

 

[HazelandPearl]

Did you switch feeds completely versus gradually making the switch?

How long ago was the last egg? How recently were the new birds added?

As far as calcium, chickens can very easily swallow a tablet, just push it in there. The water was the dangerous component.

Yes I learned that in a scary bad way! Never again. I did it kind of abrupt when I realized Tulip only getting chick starter so I panicked and thought I have to switch to grower for them all too eat and have always had oyster shell on the side for her . Tulip was added to the younger ones from a friend and laid fine for weeks then the shell less egg then nothing.

 

[HazelandPearl]

Can you break it in half?
I forgot about the pullets. 17% on the low side for a grower, minimum is usually %18.
I'd work on feeding her the tablets

And here I was thinking scratch and peck was a great brand! Do you have a grower feed to recommend?

 

[HazelandPearl]

Just gave her the calcium with no problem. Thank you! I will start searching for a higher protein feed.

 

[nuthatched]

And here I was thinking scratch and peck was a great brand! Do you have a grower feed to recommend?

It's a boutique feed, it's a good feed but most of it is hype as does lack in a few areas...it tends to be low in protein. It's also expensive.
Any feed with at least 18% will be good. It depends what you can get in your area

 

[rosemarythyme]

And here I was thinking scratch and peck was a great brand! Do you have a grower feed to recommend?

I use S&P grower without issue, for all birds roughly 8 weeks and up. Maybe the change in feed was too abrupt for her? I generally don't have issues switching cold turkey but almost anything can be enough of a stressor to cause a bird to stop laying.

 

[Mrs. K]

I really don't think it is the feed. Chickens getting even a pretty minimal diet, produce eggs. People fret on here about a couple of percentage points like their birds are going into a decline without it. I just don't see that. If you are starving her, she is loosing weight , lethargic, and dull eyed - well then the diet may be an issue.

If she is active, bright eyed, and her feathers are healthy, well I don't think it is feed.

Chickens can be sneaky, very sneaky. I think it is a hidden nest.

Mrs K

 

[ChknMama50]

I have Tulip an Easter egger (just over 1 year old). She eats scratch and peck grower feed. There are 12 weekers with her which she’s amazing with. I started fermenting her feed and she laid one shell less egg and zilch since. She has oyster shells free choice. She seems fine otherwise. Happy as can be and pooping fine. I did give her a calcium tablet. That was an ordeal and not wanting to do that again. I started fermenting her feed and not sure if that changed anything but not one egg since the shell less egg. She also gets crushed egg shells every evening. I am at a loss of what else to do!

Hi- Sorry to hear you are now dealing with this!! You don't have to read all this but wish I'd known it all so feel on today of all days- finding your post within hours of you posting it was meant to be....sorry it took me til today to finish!! Found my girl yesterday am and had a busy sad day!

I would look into reproductive issues that SO many of these chickens (like our Easter Eggers) that are bred to lay lots of eggs WILL have- just a matter of when not really if....
I realize I may sound a bit jaded right now but I've JUST lost my second since Feb. and watching her suffer was TOUGH... I did ALL I could to treat problems as they came up and to do ALL I could to keep her as happy and comfy as possible...

First one I lost never really even laid as she most likely had far more severe internal issues such as tumors or cysts blocking reproductive organs etc., but Woodsy (the sweet little goof in my avatar!) laid like a CHAMP for over 2yrs- right thru that first winter being a "spring chicken" (born in late May) and only started to have health issues during and after her first full molt in late fall 2022... She never started to lay again except one egg (on Easter Sunday!) and suffered from what I am almost certain was EYP due to internal laying...

It's evidently VERY common with these (super productive) chickens as laying an egg is simply a complex and very taxing process on their little bodies! Sounds like you are doing some wonderful things for her (from what little I know ) to keep her from using the calcium from her own body... but I would read up all you can on internal laying. There is a wealth of info on here and all over the web including some vet sites...

What caught my attention most in your post was that she stopped laying- first off, but then, that she laid a "shell less" egg- I'm kinda assuming you mean a soft shelled egg as I've never seen a truly shell less one- that would be (by my understanding at least!) an internally laid egg that never developed properly.
Also- I did note you said you are feeding her "grower" feed- I'd look into that too- as they can develop issues if they grow too rapidly... that is meant, if I'm not mistaken for "meat birds"... but fermenting feed is a great way to keep them healthy with natural probiotics-but they'll eat less as it's far more filling and nutritious! So, I'd be super surprised to find out that has anything to do with her soft shelled egg and not laying overall... so back to biggest potential issue...

If the egg yolk is not properly "caught" by the oviduct once it's released by the ovary, it can instead end up in the peritoneum.
This can (as you know- since you said you're also a nurse!) lead to peritonitis- due to the fact that not only is it a foreign body where it doesn't belong, but egg yolk is a perfect medium to grow bacteria!! Likely culprits being E. Coli and other nasty gram neg. rods- but sadly, there does not seem to be any real way to "heal" this issue.

Their bodies can absorb some of the yolk, etc. but it's virtually impossible to remove it all surgically. Some more chronic cases will develop more fluid- like ascites ("water belly") which is also not treatable but CAN be drained by your vet to provide relief to the hen if they've built up enough fluid to put pressure on their lungs which makes it hard to breathe... and can provide a sample to help diagnose EYP and the bacteria specifically that needs to be treated. Not to be an UBER bummer, but it's a complex issue and I learned a LOT by reading some great articles- some by authors on this site and others across the web- some good case studies as well on Poultry DVM...

The best you can do for them- from what I can tell-is to get them an implant by your vet (if they'll give it!) to suppress ovulation! If they don't ovulate they won't lay internally and can go on to live happy relatively healthy lives from what I read and hear from those I've talked to on here who have had it done- but without laying eggs. Once they no longer get the needed hormonal implant to prevent this process, they will start to ovulate and have the same issues. Sev people I've talked to had issues going INTO the fall and it was therefore slowed by a natural break in laying due to the molt and the darker season-shorter days/less sunlight...

There can be quite a few reasons, btw, for the oviduct to not perform properly- it can be infected or inflamed- and potentially still work correctly once it's healed- See Salpingitis in chickens- which will also explain Lash "eggs" (not eggs- layers of infectious exudate etc)... OR it can be already impacted from other already abnormally formed eggs, or even blocked by cysts or even tumors...Yes like I said- I'm sorry to even write this to you but sure wish I'd found all this out MUCH earlier my girl's illness...

Sounds like you may have caught this EARLY on enough to hopefully change her course!! I have another who lays soft shelled eggs now and then for quite some time now- at least a year- but I didn't know at first just how dangerous it could be... luckily hers have only broken after they've been laid- mostly by the girls going or a delicious treat!
Hopefully by staying on top of her calcium intake, you can help her lay properly formed eggs and not have the whole sequence even start! BTW- I ended up getting liquid Calcium for pet birds. I too was told they could handle a huge calcium pill no problem but giving my girls pills or oral meds requires TWO of us to KNOW I'm not causing them to aspirate! (once you see an amazing article on here as well with photos of their tracheal opening- right in the middle behind their little tongues- it really helps you feel more confident going in with a TB syringe (1cc) to the right side of their mouth- my left- and going in past the trachea to inject straight into their esophagus... without tubing them! Still giving no more than 1/2cc at a time just in case... but I digress- sorry!! I'm WAY wordy and well aware!! ANYway my girls think it's a FUN game getting to drink drips from my big pink topped bulb syringe- started when they were on the roost at bedtime now that I can stand right in front of them... and so now if one's in the box for a bit long or I find a soft shelled egg- I can go right to that chicken and give them some liquid calcium directly right then! You can add it to their water too- directions abound...

Crop issues- btw- (since I'm a fount of FUN and totally not depressing info) also tend to go hand and hand with reproductive issues... Guess the inflammation pushing up on the crop can cause slowed digestion and further problems. My other "sick" Easter Egger had issues with sour crop and eventually a bit of crop impaction LONG before she showed signs of EYP..... I sadly completely missed her first sign of internal laying- NOT LAYING!!

(Felt pretty bad as a nurse but I took care of very sick humans- NOT chickens and I'm here to tell you there is a lot to learn!! It will only help you though for the future as knowledge is power!) So finally got her crop acting right and now she's got the same signs of EYP that Woodsy first showed... your girl does NOT, btw, have those- swollen hard belly, yellow fecal discharge, and obviously feeling awful standing off alone, puffed up, often in a "penguin" stance as it helps with pain. You are lucky enough to just be catching a problem hopefully early on enough to prevent all I went thru!!

It can be hard to catch if you don't know about it- even for someone who only had 5 laying chickens... and who THOUGHT she knew what eggs each chicken laid!! They surprised me and that is part of how I missed that Woodsy wasn't laying- thought my one still healthy EE'er was the one laying blue eggs- but no- that was evidently PeeWee- the one with crop issues... SO when I was getting green eggs still and Pee was sick- I thought Woodsy was laying and frankly didn't think much of Dandy not laying her blue ones as she seemed SO healthy! Yes- there is a lot of guilt going on here- even though I KNOW I did all I could once I figured things out!!

I wish I had better "news" and easy advice- and can only pray that your girl is gonna be fine.... I just would def. be "on guard" due to the soft shelled (?) egg... Good move again, on the Calcium- as I'm told it will help with not only the lack of shell- but the spasms/contractions they can be having to try to lay if egg bound...not quite as common from what I gather- but won't get into that much!! lol

BEST of luck- now back to figure out how to get her to get a necropsy to confirm all of the above for the sake of my others...

 

[ChknMama50]

I really don't think it is the feed. Chickens getting even a pretty minimal diet, produce eggs. People fret on here about a couple of percentage points like their birds are going into a decline without it. I just don't see that. If you are starving her, she is loosing weight , lethargic, and dull eyed - well then the diet may be an issue.

If she is active, bright eyed, and her feathers are healthy, well I don't think it is feed.

Chickens can be sneaky, very sneaky. I think it is a hidden nest.

Mrs K

Gosh, I like your answer MUCH better ;-) lol... a hidden nest would be a FAR better answer!! I knew mine wasn't as they only got out to "free range" in afternoons when we were watching them due to a large amt of hawks on our land!! Agree on diet though... Did consider it though way back when my problems started as it was the only change... from a smaller brand to big feed store name brand... back when they actually recalled a bit of their food.... but little did I know... NOT the problem!!

Hope you are right- they ARE sneaky!! Unfortunately also sneaky about being sick!! They'll hide it until it's daggone near too late!!