Poorly chicken

[SuburbanChick]

We've had our four beautilful girls now for just over a month and they're a happy little band with only a bit of pecking going on. I don't want to go out any more - I just want to stay home with the chickens!

 

Now we were told that it was a good idea to worm them after about 3 weeks so I mixed up the Flubenvet with their pellets and then they began to come into lay They laid about a dozen eggs between them during the 8 days it took to worm them so glad that there wasn't an egg withdrawel period. But ..... this week I'm finding eggs without shells so I'm wondering if worming them when they were just coming into lay was too much for their systems. I can't work out who is laying egss without shells but I found one in the cube on Wednesday, two in the run on Thursday and one in the cube again this morning under the roosting bars. Is there anything that I can do? They have layers pellets and grit, corn in the afternoon and lots of dandelion leaves which they'd mug you for!!! Of course they didn't have corn or many dandelion leaves while they were being wormed. [ We weakened and gave them a few leaves]

 

I'm so worried that I've got a chicken with laying problems. What can I do??

[jackian]

Don't panic!

If they are young girls then they are practising . it does happen from time to time and has nothing to the with the worming .

I don't know what age you can give them lime stone flour but that is good for chickens laying soft eggs.You can buy it on line and is really cheap.it is used for hardening bones in young horses but also for chickens shells.Also cold liver oil (not too much)

 

Good luck and I'm really glad you love your chicken keeping especially now the better weather is coming .

 

Jackie x

[Redwing]

Stick with it. things will sort themselves out, it will be unconnected to the wormer

[SuburbanChick]

Thank you for your replies Jackian and Redwing.

 

I hope the laying problem does sort itself out soon because I can't help worrying. Had 3 eggs yesterday and I knew that the fourth chicken was laying well so I thought that the problem was all resolved. Then I found a perfect egg with no shell in the run just before bedtime

 

How long does it take for early laying problems to resolve?

[The Dogmother]

Usually only 2-3 weeks; they are at that stage of practising egg laying and it will settle down in due course.

[Blissfully Retired]

It is now just a year since I collected my six chickens and, in the early weeks of laying, I was shocked to see several eggs laid without shells. They were laid on the bars in the coop and, without their shells, the soft eggs had slipped through the bars in the coop. Mine also had grit available. I also had several months of double yolked eggs - this with the soft eggs soon settled down and I put it down to adolescence!

[SuburbanChick]

That's so reassuring to know Dogmother and Blissfullyretired.

 

My chickens have been laying for a month now and I'm still getting the odd egg without a shell under the roosting bars or, more upsetting, a perfect egg with no shell just laid in the run. They're really weird because the membrane is completely intact and quite strong - it doesn't break when you pick the egg up! I'm getting the occasional double yolker too. Thery're delicious but it brings tears to my eyes thinking of the hen laying such a large egg

[angusrose]

I'm getting a similar problem with one of my Black Rocks. She started off laying perfect eggs, but for over a month now has been laying soft eggs. Will try the lime powder someone mentioned. Can the problem be caused by parasitic infections?

[The Dogmother]

If you're getting soft eggs, I would look at the following:

 

Age of hens - older hens can often lay soft-shelled eggs

When were they last wormed with Flubenvet?

Diet... what are they fed on? Hens not getting the right nutrients (usually lots of treats) will lay soft-shelled eggs, or often stop laying altogether.

 

I would worm them with Flubenvet, keep them on a strict diet of layers pellets only and restrict their free ranging for a while. Adding limestone flour with Cod liver oil to the pellets will help if their calcium reserves are low, but not if there's a shell gland malfunction. It is probably easier to wash and bake their eggshells, then grind them to a powder in the food processor before adding to the pellets. The vit D3 in the cod liver oil will help with the assimilation of the calcium.

[hammy72]

I wormed mine over the last week as well and the new hen laid her first egg today, it is very small but has a shell. Didn't know she was about to come into lay as was not sure of her age when we acquired her. Don't worry too much, have had some soft shelled ones along the way and then they go back to normal.

[LolaLayla]

Years ago when my girls started to lay eggs with soft shells I sought advise on here (which of course was very good )

I now give my girls along with their pellets, limestone flour, grit, oyster shells, ground up egg shells and a spoonful of garlic powder for good measure Their eggs have great shells (crossing fingers )