Soft Shelled Egg Daily

[Chick_Crazy]

Posting this again on injuries forum

Hello! I have a hen who has been laying soft shelled eggs for awhile now, but since recent she has been laying them everyday. What I notice is, that she is fine in the morning once I let the flock out, but when evening comes, she slows down...she goes to bed, then passes the egg. The next morning she is fine again! While this is good that she is passing them, I worry that there could be a problem at some point. After doing research on this, I would like to say lack of calcium. And that may be so, but I tried giving my hens oyster shells in their food, and they just picked around them. Rn I am giving her a calcium tablet everyday, just to give her boost. I just don't want there to be a problem later on, as I recently lost a hen to egg bound. If you have any info on how I can get this hen back to normal, I would greatly appreciate it!

Also, she is a 4yr ISA. Well, almost four...maybe 3. Not to sure

 

[SilverBirds]

What to you feed them? I'd say not enough calcium is the culprit.

 

[nuthatched]

Don't mix the oyster shell into their food and the tablet will likely not help. Isa browns, like most high production breeds, are prone to reproduction issues. They usually stop laying or start getting eggs issues after their second laying season, you're taking good care of them for them to live this long but this is likely the beginning of the end.

 

[Eggcessive]

Are all of your other hens laying hard egg shells? What do you feed them? If she has access to oyster shell and is getting a balanced chicken all flock or layer feed, she may have a problem with her shell gland in her oviduct. Stress or an injury can also cause this. With shell-less eggs, they can become egg bound easily, and they can also break inside setting up an infection.

When my best layer was chased and injured by my neighbor’s dog during their daily walk, my hen stopped laying, went into a molt, and when she started laying months later, her eggs from then on were either shell-less or thinly shelled. All of the hens would anticipate getting her egg when she was laying. She eventually figured out that she could eat it first. Eventually she died of a reproductive infection around the age of 2 1/2. Here is a link with pictures of the hen’s reproductive system:
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

 

[Chick_Crazy]

What to you feed them? I'd say not enough calcium is the culprit.

These are the two we use. We typically stick to the Dumor, but we wanted to stalk up, and had to buy the other kind, as it was the only option.

 

[Chick_Crazy]

Don't mix the oyster shell into their food and the tablet will likely not help. Isa browns, like most high production breeds, are prone to reproduction issues. They usually stop laying or start getting eggs issues after their second laying season, you're taking good care of them for them to live this long but this is likely the beginning of the end.

A couple years ago, I did put the oyster shells in their food. And because it looked like they didn't want it, I just stopped giving it to them. I haven't had oyster shells for maybe a 2yrs...now that I am a bit more experienced with chickens, I know that mixing was not the solution. Going to get some oyster shells and egg shells and put it in a separate dish for the whole flock. I don't want to give up on my hen, because she is important to me. I just recently lost one of my favorites, and I am not willing to lose another. Not gonna give up yet. Thanks for your response!

 

[Chick_Crazy]

Are all of your other hens laying hard egg shells? What do you feed them? If she has access to oyster shell and is getting a balanced chicken all flock or layer feed, she may have a problem with her shell gland in her oviduct. Stress or an injury can also cause this. With shell-less eggs, they can become egg bound easily, and they can also break inside setting up an infection.

When my best layer was chased and injured by my neighbor’s dog during their daily walk, my hen stopped laying, went into a molt, and when she started laying months later, her eggs from then on were either shell-less or thinly shelled. All of the hens would anticipate getting her egg when she was laying. She eventually figured out that she could eat it first. Eventually she died of a reproductive infection around the age of 2 1/2. Here is a link with pictures of the hen’s reproductive system:
https://poultry.extension.org/articles/poultry-anatomy/avian-reproductive-female/

I just shared what food we use, so if you want to check that out, it should be here somewhere (new to this whole BYC thing) anyway, it basically gives why we feed them it. And no, I do not have any extra calcium on hand. But I am planning on getting it asap.

Like I said to another person on here, a couple years ago, I was still new to chickens. I didn't really think they liked the oyster shells, so I stopped. Haven't done it since. I also haven't had a problem since. All my laying hens have laid healthy hard shelled eggs, maybe a soft here and there. But not daily like this. She had been doing this for a week or two now. I didn't realize it was her till recent. But now that I know, I want to do something about. Not willing to lose another one of my hens.

And no, there have been no recent stressors. Maybe a new Rooster? We just added him about a month ago. But she isn't his "favorite girl"

Could it be an illness? She has had this odd wheezing with her breathing. I can hear her running behind me. Nothing major, like gasping for breath. It just sounds like a cold in her throat. She has had it for awhile now. No other symptoms. I have been applying VetRX to her throat daily, and it seems like it has gotten better. But the thing with this raspy throat, and why I haven't made it a big deal, is because she has always had a weird raspy bawk. So I just took it as a spring thing, and nothing more. Could that cause her to stress? Make things go wrong inside?

I want to lay out all of the things, that way I can help her in anyway necessary. Thanks for your reply!