Black Copper Maran Laying Soft Eggs

[Porpoise Hork]

Hello all,

I have a 2 year old BCM who shortly after molt started having issues with her eggs. She stopped laying during molt this year and I increased the protein content in the feed (freeze dried fly grubs) to help them out. She did not have a particularly hard molt losing only about 25% of her feathers. About 4-6 weeks ago she went from her Normal rich dark brown egg with firm shell to laying eggs much lighter in color with a sand paper like texture and an extremely thin almost white band in the middle. The whites and yolks appear perfectly normal in volume and color. There are no signs of parasites in her eggs, and no unusual odors. Sorry I don't have a pic of her eggs at the moment but will when she lays the next one in a day or two. The ends of the shell were fairly normal in thickness and hardness but the middle was so fragile that it would break with the slightest of pressure. She has not exhibited any signs of illness whatsoever and has remained her normal talkative alert self. She also has shown no loss of appetite and droppings are all normal with no signs of parasites. I have her isolated from the flock now her eggs are now basically like brownish colored water balloons. I have decreased the protein level back to normal, increased her calcium intake, but so far I have seen no improvement in her eggs. All of the other birds in the flock are doing just fine. All laying regularly with no issues like the Maran. I have spent hours and hours trying to find out what is wrong, but so far am at a complete loss. Hopefully someone out there may be able to shed some light on what's going on with my girl.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Myrshine]

Normally this is caused by not having enough calcium in their diet.

 

[Yardmom]

What are you giving her for calcium? Does she have access to egg shells, oyster shells, and layer feed?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

Thanks for replying.

The entire flock has full access to crushed oyster shells, given crushed egg shells several times a week, along with left over cooked eggs. They are all fed a mix of whole grains and crumble style layer feed (Scratch-n-Peck and Texas Natural Feeds) as well as freeze dried fly grubs.

I was wondering if it was a lack of calcium issue and since isolating her from the rest of the flock, she has been given the above as well as a 1/4 tsp of calcium powder with Vitamin D3 supplement (Rep-Cal) daily mixed in with a cooked egg. So far it has mot made any difference in the two eggs she has laid.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

She laid today and this is what her eggs have looked like since she finished her molt about 2 months ago. The center of the egg is darker than it has been and this egg is has a shell, albeit very thin.

This egg is from her sister and hers used to be darker than this as well. The scratches on it are from the broody silkie twins fighting to see who will get to sit on it.

 

[Eggcessive]

She may be experiencing a problem with her shell gland portion of her oviduct. I am not a fan of scratch and peck feeds, but prefer one that is the same with each bite in pellets or crumbles. It is best when they cannot peck out the most preferred ingredients. Also, I would not offer scratch grains unless it is just a very small treat once in awhile. Her problem may or may not be due to a mineral or vitamin deficiency. Egg color can fade when close to a molt. Here is a good article about egg quality problems:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

A good picture of the anatomy of the oviduct:
http://www.geauga4h.org/poultry/repro_tract_hen_labeled.jpg

 

[Porpoise Hork]

About 2-2.5 months back I recently started mixing the a crumble style feed with the Scratch-n-Peck so it's much harder to just pick out the grains. I know about egg color loss before a molt, but she just finished molting and had started laying again for about a month before having issues with her eggs. Just not sure what would case such a sudden and drastic change in her eggs like that.

 

[pstroud]

My one year old copper maran has had the same issue periodically - soft shells and chalky pale finish every couple of weeks for one or two days, then back to normal for a few. None of the other hens have problems (but she's the only copper maran). I've tried feeding her some egg booster crumbles separately and they all get eggshells/oystershell regularly and crumble for food (none of them liked pellets much). Ideas welcome!