The Poultry Keeper

Lisa

One of my hybrids seems to have a bit of a problem laying eggs...

She's about a year old. She did lay quite a few rubber eggs when she first started laying. And for several months the shells on her eggs have been very thin, and rough at one end. They do thicken up a tiny bit on calcivet, but they are still no where near as thick as the others. And none of the other chickens have this problem so I'm not happy about keeping 3 healthy chickens that lay great eggs on a lot of extra calcium - I don't think that would be good for them, would it?

Thing is, it looks like she doesn't know she's going to lay an egg. I watched her in the run while she was eating. She stopped for a while, I thought she was about to have a poo, but out popped an egg Shocked

and then she just carried on eating like nothing had happened Shocked

I've seen it happen 2 other times - one while she was scratching, one while she was just standing there...

Strange thing is I do find some of her eggs in the nest box. And I find her in the nest box sometimes too. But I also find some eggs under the perch, on the floor of the shed, out in the run - and more often than not, these are broken. Seems such a waste Sad

I know they are all hers, as they have always been a lot paler than the others.

Apart from this she seems fine, and she's never been ill...

I always thought the rough ended eggs were because of too much calcium? So I'm confused why I'm getting both.

Any thoughts or ideas?

thewinkingtiger · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 936 Location: East Yorkshire, UK

Hi Lisa
I'm sorry that no one else has come up with any ideas as to what is happening here. It is rather baffling isn't it??
Do you have the ability to isolate her and monitor what she is actually eating incase it is a 'chosen' dietary imbalance?
I'm thinking that although you are providing all the right things - perhaps she isn't eating 'in balance'? If that makes sense.
How about trying putting her on her own with access only to layers pellets and grit and see if things improve.

Other than that - I'm stumped!!! LOL

Debs
x

CP · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:05 am Post subject:

We had a hen a few years ago that always laid a 'rubber' egg. We tried several things, but never managed to cure her. She would also pop them out anywhere, anytime. In fact the others used to watch out for it, then pounce on the egg to eat it.

Sad to say she had to go as it was encouraging egg eating & we rarely managed to collect a usable egg from her. Sad

So I don't know the answer Lisa, but as you say, it's not really a good idea to keep the others on Calcivet if they don't need it. Confused

You could try Debs idea & see if there's an improvement.

Lisa · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:35 pm Post subject:

CP - I had a simillar experience when she was young. She laid 3 rubber eggs in one day once Shocked

(ie just membrane, no shell) and the other girls pounced on them and devoured them before I could get in the run to stop them!! Thankfully she did start laying some shell...

Debs - you might be on to something there Razz

The other word I would use to describe her is.... GREEDY!! Her head is usually first in any food bowl I put out, or first to reach any scratch I throw out Laughing

I could isolate her, but to be totally honest, I'd rather not...

I have thought about what I feed them though, and double checked some of the ingredients I feed. They always have access to layers mash, but they also get whatever healthy left overs I have, plus greens and other veg, and they get a variety of whole grains / seeds as scratch feed.

Must admit I do like feeding scratch feed... And a lot of whole grains, like wheat, contain something called phytic acid or phytate which can hinder the absorption of minerals like calcium. Good news is sprouting (thanks to Bhindi for the reminder about sprouting in another thread) neutralizes the phytic acid, and increases the nutritional quality of the grain, so that's what I'll be doing with the wheat etc now. (I used to do it a lot more, but for one reason or another I haven't been doing it so much lately).

I don't think there is an overall problem with what I'm feeding, because the other 3 birds and their eggs are fine. I just think this particular chicken has some sort of "weakness" that I need to work around.

Now I know its early days, but the shells are slightly darker (they've always been very pale) and there have been almost no pimples on the outside for the last couple of days. They're still thin shelled... but its early days and they are changing.... Razz

thewinkingtiger · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 936 Location: East Yorkshire, UK

Lisa · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:00 pm Post subject:

LOL!! Takes after her owner then Laughing

jaydee67 · Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:16 pm Post subject:

We had 3 thin shelled but bumpy eggs last week - all the birds get the same diet - must be the time of year for it!

summayah · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 4289 Location: luton

Maybe it's as they all rush into lay again after the winter lay off? And it has been a lot colder for longer this year, so maybe that has upset their egg balance a little. Not so much sunshine, therefore, lack of vit D

Fenn · Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 2292 Location: Shrewsbury

I had a thin-shelled egg yesterday, it must be catching! Ours was from the Pekin - this was only her second egg after coming back into lay, so I'm putting it down to that.
They're all on the same diet and the others are fine, so I'm hoping it's a one-off.