Chicken laying cracked egg?!

[lexidowney]

My second post in less than 24 hours with chicken worries- is this normal?

Yesterday around 5pm I was letting my girls out to free range for a little. I noticed they all went crazy over something. One was running around with a half of an egg shell. There was egg whites as the girls were gobbling it up but I don’t think I saw any yolk unless they got to it that quick (I often throw them eggs if I accidentally crack one when retrieving but we haven’t had a problem of them eating eggs not given to them) I know I didn’t drop one as I only collected 5 and still have 5 in my bag. I have 6 hens who have laid regularly for months now so one didn’t lay yesterday morning. I quickly went to google and began to panic about peritonitis. I wasn’t sure who this egg came from so I monitored them closely on our coop camera.

They are all behaving normally however I am treating one for bumblefoot which I kept her inside overnight 2 nights ago now I have been going out early morning (around 5:15am) to bring her in and change her bandages. When I went to get her this morning one was already in the nesting box and after checking the cameras she’s been in there since 4:00am which is super early compared to their normal behavior. When I went back out I found a half soft shell egg with cracks in it so now I know which girl it is. I checked her vent and it seems clear and she’s acting normal otherwise. My question is- should I be worried? What should I be looking out for if she did lay a cracked egg yesterday with no yolk. Her stance seems normal and she did sing her song after coming out of the nesting box. Posting a pic of her egg and a video of her behavior after. Thanks so much for any insight- my first time owning chickens and quickly fell in love with them

 

[nuthatched]

What's their diet? Don't feed them raw eggs, they can easily recognize it.

 

[lexidowney]

They eat pellets with scratch grains mixed in and mealworms as treats. I don’t usually feed them raw eggs but if one cracks they’ll get it! Because of the soft egg I added in oyster shells in their feed.

 

[lexidowney]

They eat pellets with scratch grains mixed in and mealworms as treats. I don’t usually feed them raw eggs but if one cracks they’ll get it! Because of the soft egg I added in oyster shells in their feed.

Also occasional strawberries and watermelon they love

 

[rosemarythyme]

They eat pellets with scratch grains mixed in and mealworms as treats. I don’t usually feed them raw eggs but if one cracks they’ll get it! Because of the soft egg I added in oyster shells in their feed.

What kind of pellets? How much scratch? I answered on your other thread but I'd cut out the treats (both scratch and oyster shouldn't be mixed into feed) and have oyster and/or crushed eggshell in a container on the side.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

They eat pellets with scratch grains mixed in and mealworms as treats. I don’t usually feed them raw eggs but if one cracks they’ll get it! Because of the soft egg I added in oyster shells in their feed.

Don't feed them raw eggs like that, you're teaching them to eat their eggs.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Put the oyster shells in a separate vessel, they'll help themselves to as much as they need. What you need to do is give a Calcium Citrate +D3 tablet to the one chicken that laid the soft egg. Just pop it in her beak in the evening after they go to roost, she can swallow it easily. Pull down on her wattles to open her beak. You can get this at any store that sells vitamins and supplements. Do this every night for a week.