Egg production, jelly eggs and death

[Lunabelle]

Hello,
We live in Northern California and started out a year and a half ago with 9 sweet Leghorn pullets. Soon after they began laying we noticed that we were getting most days an enormous double yoked egg. This went on for three or four months until finally, I went into the yard and found one of our girls dead. The double yoked eggs stopped. Then one of the girls started laying the jelly-egg/shell-less egg almost daily. Another girl was soon after found dead in the yard. The shell-less eggs stopped. Then I was watching the girls happily scratching away and one of them mounted the other like a rooster. I looked this up and read that when a hens right ovary fails, her left can develop into a gonad and she can take on the characteristics of a rooster. This is referred to as "spontanious sex reversal" and can also go the other way, male to female. Sure enough, in the early morning I hear her attempting to crow and she is not laying. Now I am seeing one lay the jelly egg and one of the girls is laying very thin shelled eggs even though we give plenty of oyster shell and the best organic, soy free layer food and scratch in addition to delicious organic table scraps daily. They are also free range. We have seven hens and are getting four healthy eggs, one shell-less and one very thin shelled egg per day. So far that is over 50% of the flock with fatal reproductive issues. I have read about the declining fertility in humans lately too and am wondering if it is somehow related. We love our girls and it is very hard to watch this happen to them. Any idea what is going on here? Thank you in advance.

 

[azygous]

Such tragedy. Yes, something is lurking in the genes of these chickens, most likely. Usually ouster shell is entirely adequate to satisfy the calcium needs of hens, but when they have a genetic predisposition to poor calcium uptake, then they need occasional help with a calcium supplement.

Other causes of poor shell quality is lack of adequate sunlight, and lack of magnesium in the diet. However, if you feed a commercial feed, they are probably getting adequate magnesium.

This is what I recommend as a calcium supplement to be given one whole tablet directly into the beak daily until eggs are coming out normal.

 

[Lunabelle]

Thank you very much. Is that a supplement for humans? I have calcium citrate and D3 that I take. Can I use it for the girls?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'd stop with the scratch and scraps, for one. They already get plenty of extras from free ranging. What type of feed are you using, a pellet or crumble, or a whole grain mash - if mash, are they eating the entirety of the feed (i.e. it's fermented to ensure they're eating the fines which contain a lot of the vitamins and minerals)? Do you see evidence of them eating the oyster shell?

 

[aart]

can also go the other way, male to female.

Not unless the 'male' bird was born with all the egg making parts, other than an ovary.

 

[HisMine]

Hello,
We live in Northern California and started out a year and a half ago with 9 sweet Leghorn pullets. Soon after they began laying we noticed that we were getting most days an enormous double yoked egg. This went on for three or four months until finally, I went into the yard and found one of our girls dead. The double yoked eggs stopped. Then one of the girls started laying the jelly-egg/shell-less egg almost daily. Another girl was soon after found dead in the yard. The shell-less eggs stopped. Then I was watching the girls happily scratching away and one of them mounted the other like a rooster. I looked this up and read that when a hens right ovary fails, her left can develop into a gonad and she can take on the characteristics of a rooster. This is referred to as "spontanious sex reversal" and can also go the other way, male to female. Sure enough, in the early morning I hear her attempting to crow and she is not laying. Now I am seeing one lay the jelly egg and one of the girls is laying very thin shelled eggs even though we give plenty of oyster shell and the best organic, soy free layer food and scratch in addition to delicious organic table scraps daily. They are also free range. We have seven hens and are getting four healthy eggs, one shell-less and one very thin shelled egg per day. So far that is over 50% of the flock with fatal reproductive issues. I have read about the declining fertility in humans lately too and am wondering if it is somehow related. We love our girls and it is very hard to watch this happen to them. Any idea what is going on here? Thank you in advance.

Is there fertilizer or insecticides used in the area... specifically triazanine