Polish hen laying two eggs a day?? One hard and one soft shelled

briannajustine

Chirping
Sep 17, 2021
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Hi All,
My sweet little polish hen is having trouble laying. She didn’t lay until around a year old (honestly I thought she would never lay as I suspect she’s not 100% all there haha). She’s been laying since September, and was completely fine and consistent the first few months. Over the last few months however she has been really struggling. She started laying the occasional soft egg (like one every week or so) and the others were fine. She really struggled with the soft shelled ones, and I would often bring her inside to the hospital cage thinking she was really sick. She would end up laying the eff after an hour or so and then be 100% fine.
In the last couple of weeks however she’s only been laying every couple of days and really seems to be struggling. And every time she lays, she lays two eggs within either a couple of minutes of each other or within an hour or so!! Every time the first one is hard, and it is followed by a soft shelled one. Sometimes it’s so soft it breaks before it hits the ground, other times it’s weirdly rubbery and bouncy. Every time it’s completely normal on the inside.
While she’s laying it she looks extremely uncomfortable for about an hour before hand and spends a lot of time pushing hard. I watched her yesterday and noticed I could see the top of the hard shelled egg in her vent but she couldn’t seem to get it out for a while. I’ve given her Epsom salt baths which helps a little with getting the egg out. I was also instructed to give calcium supplements and have been doing so in the water since she began laying soft shelled eggs but it doesn’t seem to be helping.

Does anyone have any idea what might be going on, or how I can help?? She’s my favourite hen and is really struggling. I don’t want her to prolapse or have the egg break inside her as she is pushing so hard :(

I’ve included some photos of her when she’s trying to lay (the first one I managed to catch the egg coming out 😂). As well as the weirdest soft bouncy egg we got from her yesterday.
 

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I was also instructed to give calcium supplements and have been doing so in the water since she began laying soft shelled eggs but it doesn’t seem to be helping.
What is the Calcium you are putting in the water?

Try giving her 1 Calcium Citrate with D3 once daily, see if that helps. Just pull down on her wattles, pop the pill into her beak and let her swallow.

See that she's eating a nutritionally balanced feed and not a lot of extras like scratch.
 
What is the Calcium you are putting in the water?

Try giving her 1 Calcium Citrate with D3 once daily, see if that helps. Just pull down on her wattles, pop the pill into her beak and let her swallow.

See that she's eating a nutritionally balanced feed and not a lot of extras like scratch.
I’ve been giving her this, just putting it in the water which I know she is drinking. The girls get mostly layer pellets with a tiny handful of scratch everyday, as well as random kitchen scraps when I have them.
 
One of my hens was having a similar issue...laying 2 eggs a day (not within mins like yours but one during the day then a soft one at night). I ended up taking her to the vet who examined her and gave her a clean bill of health. He said cut out ALL treats. Even healthy ones. As long as you are giving them a good quality layer feed (and access to grit and oyster shells) that is all they need. I had been giving her calcium too which he said to stop. And he was right! Within a few days of cutting everything out, she went back to regular/normal laying.
Good luck with your sweet girl.
 
One of my hens was having a similar issue...laying 2 eggs a day (not within mins like yours but one during the day then a soft one at night). I ended up taking her to the vet who examined her and gave her a clean bill of health. He said cut out ALL treats. Even healthy ones. As long as you are giving them a good quality layer feed (and access to grit and oyster shells) that is all they need. I had been giving her calcium too which he said to stop. And he was right! Within a few days of cutting everything out, she went back to regular/normal laying.
Good luck with your sweet girl.
Oh yeah I will try this!! I hope this is the case, I’m worried she might just have a defective reproductive system though as she didn’t start laying till after a year old, and she doesn’t even have a comb haha. Of course it’s always the favourite 🙄
 

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