Mature hen laying soft eggs

[ChicksofHeaven]

We’ve recently discovered two soft eggs, two days in a row.
Last week we noticed an egg that looked like it had a hard time coming out.
We have three hens, they are exactly two years old. They’ve been laying through the winter 2 or 3 eggs a day total.

Feeding them layer feed, scratch grain, a flock block and oyster shells. Occasional mealworms. They free range regularly. I bring them vegetable scraps but they don’t seem to care for those too much.

I’ll include a pic of the rough delivery eggs, no pics of rubbery egg. One burst upon touching it.
Any ideas what causes this? Treatment?
Other threads mentioned this happening with new layers. The girls are mature.

 

[nuthatched]

How much feed to how much treats? Age of birds?
You can give them a calcium citrate tablet for fast absorption

 

[aart]

they are exactly two years old. They’ve been laying through the winter 2 or 3 eggs a day total.

Chances are they may now be getting ready to molt, you can get some funky eggs around that time.
Curious why they didn't molt in the fall, are you using supplemental lighting?
I assume you are in the northern hemisphere, but......
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[ChicksofHeaven]

Chances are they may now be getting ready to molt, you can get some funky eggs around that time.
Curious why they didn't molt in the fall, are you using supplemental lighting?
I assume you are in the northern hemisphere, but......
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 3745358

Ah. Sorry that s not filled out! I’m in SE South Dakota . One molted in the fall. That’s the one I suspect of soft eggs. They don’t get a lot of mealworm treats. The feed i described is what they eat freely.

 

[Sally PB]

As I found out today, if you need to give a pullet/hen a calcium pill, gently pull down on her wattles and she'll open her beak. Then stick the pill in her beak and let go of the wattles.

I'd read that here on BYC, and put it to use to give one of my pullets a calcium pill.

 

[ChicksofHeaven]

We don’t know which hen is laying the soft eggs. Though we have our suspicions it’s the white one.We were watching them return to roost yesterday, and she stopped by a small pile of snow to munch. As she did so we saw a line of something (do chickens vomit?) string from her beak. It happened twice.

Now we’re wondering if she didn’t learn to drink from the nipple water and is possibly dehydrated?
(I was able to catch the other two and demonstrate, but not her. I assumed she would learn by watching) there are obvious signs they use the waterer… the block holding it has drip marks. I’ve seen the little red hen drink from it.

Beyond that there’s a pan of water outside that she walked right by to eat the snow. It’s been above 40, so not freezing lately.

I replaced their layer crumble with layer pellet so they don’t pick and choose which bits they eat and can get all the calcium.
I also added a supplement to their water for added calcium.

Do you think there’s a chance one dummy hasn’t figured out the waterer when the other two have? If that’s the case, she won’t be getting the supplement.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Now we’re wondering if she didn’t learn to drink from the nipple water and is possibly dehydrated?

Beyond that there’s a pan of water outside that she walked right by to eat the snow. It’s been above 40, so not freezing lately.

I replaced their layer crumble with layer pellet so they don’t pick and choose which bits they eat and can get all the calcium.
I also added a supplement to their water for added calcium.

I would not supplement the whole flock, if the other 2 don't need it it doesn't do them any good to get it. Get calcium citrate tablets as mentioned above and pop them directly into the hen's mouth.

The only way you'll know if she's successfully using the nipples is to sit and watch. If there's alternate water sources, such as a pan of water, the birds will go to the easiest source so you will not know for sure without removing all alternate sources of water.

Not sure what's going on with the potential vomiting...