4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Jane_uk]

Hi, I'm a newbie - so really sorry if I'm breeching any posting ettiquette here.

 

I've had 3 ex-battery hens for a couple of months. They all seem to be happy and bouncy, and at first all laid fine.

 

For the last month or so my tattiest little hen seems to be having problems. She's always laid healthy eggs around 65 - 70 grams, but now she's laying 75 - 80 gram eggs with terrible shells.

 

 

I've been putting calcium powder in her mash, and for a few days she laid smaller eggs with good shells, but now she's back to asteroids again.

 

Is there anything I can do to help her out a bit? Anything I can do to help her keep her eggs small and more manageable for her?

 

She's obviously been bottom of the pecking order and had a rotten time in her battery cage, but now she's feathering up nicely and gaining weight. I wondered whether this feathering spurt and weight gain could be causing the egg problems?

 

Any ideas very gratefully appeciated!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Hi Jane and welcome to the forum . That is one strange looking egg . I've not seen one like that before but they can lay all kinds of wierd and wonderful looking eggs so you may find it's just a blip. Is it normal inside? Can you bring yourself to eat it ?

[Snowy]

My oldest gingernut used to lay eggs like that all the time. It is just a sign of the egg laying tackle wearing out (sometimes it's worms, so do make sure you have wormed them first!)

She had a moult and a rest and they were much better when she came back into lay, but did gradually start to deteriorate again. They were always fine inside, if a little watery. I used them for baking.

[Jules.]

I'm getting a few eggs like that, the girls are being wormed today

[chelsea]

that is a funny looking egg especially photographed on that dark background....almost looks like a planet!

[Egluntyne]

It is like something from Star Trek.

 

I agree.....it is a sign that her laying tackle is exhausted.

 

It might be worth giving her a calcium supplement such as Zolcal D, which also contains Vit D, which assists in the absorption of the calcium.

 

 

Welcome to the forum btw.

[Valkyrie]

Ettiquette? No worries - I'm still learning, so welcome. Apache did one a little like that - looks OK but very white and sounds like porcelain when you tap it. Although she has hardly been laying a year yet, she is the only one doing so at the moment - Sioux is broody on and off and we have had about 3 eggs from her so far this month. But just in case I'm doing another lot of worming - started yesterday.

[Jane_uk]

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply.

 

I've ordered the worming stuff, so fingers crossed that'll help her out a bit. If not, well she's had a tough life, if it's time for her egginess to tail off so be it. She gets live out her days with TLC come what may.

 

Really, appreciate you guys helping me out here. Big thanks again!

[SAB]

One of my ex-batts lays similar and they seem to be more frequent these days. The eggs are still fine to eat though. Great to hear of other "girls" who will get to live out their days in peace eggs or no eggs

[Mutrix Farmers]

My Katie lays eggs a little like that occasionally. She has pretty much laid an egg every day since we got her until last month when she started to miss a few days. As Egluntine and Snowy say probably "exhausted egg laying tackle" as they get Flubenvet-ed every month.