Eggs with no shells

[shell]

no answer i`m afraid but how odd!as a new chicken owner i`m wondering what caused this?

[StripyPixieSocks]

I don't know about Chickens but with Cockatiels when their shells of their eggs were thin it meant that they hadn't enough calcium and was usually remedied by grinding up any eggs shell and all and cooking it for them to eat along with other calcium rich foods that they could eat.

If they don't get enough calcium it is stripped from their bones to make up the deficit.

[Zaf]

from memory I think we used to be able to buy stuff from the feed merchant when our hens had a similar problem, it looked like small pieces of sea shell

[Annpan]

Susie already said they have access to oyster shell....

I have no idea.... sorry....

[Millymollymandy]

I think she's coming to the end of her laying days. Mine got very brittle shells that often just 'popped out' whilst they were on the perch - then they all dive bombed in and ate them!

My ducks have just recently started laying these rubbery looking eggs occasionally so I'm hoping to god they'll stop laying soon!!!

Is a black rock a hybrid? Because my red hens and black & gold hen (hybrids) only laid for 2 years and that was it.

[Millymollymandy]

In that case maybe she's not coming to the end of her laying days - but then I don't know what the answer is to the egg problem!

[Thomzo]

You say they have access to shell but I wonder if she simply isn't eating it. My old girls wouldn't bother eating it if it was out separately but if I mixed it in with their feed they ate it.

Someone on here once suggested crushing up the shell and adding it into mashed potato as they were sure to eat it then. I haven't tried it personally but it might be worth a go.

Cheers
Zoe

[SallyAndBiff]

All normal stuff, just make sure you give them layers pellets. don't bother with the egg shells or the oyster grit. My girls can't stand ths stuff. Sally used to be a regular floppy egg layer, but now we just don't let her out till she has layed her eggs and had a good munch down on some layers pellets. Don't give them corn or grains, just the mixed pellets. there is enough calcium in that stuff to keep them laying proper eggs. We don't let ours out till about 10 am nowadays. We used to let them out early and all they did was eat grass and worms and lay floppy eggs.

As you have bought it you may as well mix the grit in with some boiled potato skins or just about any "people food" (except perhaps meat, for moral reasons and to prevent cross species viral transfer etc, but thats up to you) There is very little that they don't seem to like eating. They much right through our sunflowers and tomatoes (the plants them selves) but bizzarely they don't seem to like carrots (cooked etc).

Also consider investing now in some of that hideously expensive diatom or poultry shield if you notice the little red beads crawling about in the coop! grr Red mites !

[Thurston Garden]

I have pasted this from a poulty website:

It is when soft-shelled eggs or misshapen ones are produced regularly that there need be a cause for concern. Veterinary advice should be sought. Conditions that adversely affect eggs include Newcastle disease (a notifiable disease to the authorities) and Infectious bronchitis, but there would be disease symptoms showing in the birds themselves if either of these was present. Hybrids are normally vaccinated against them.

As the birds are free ranging, there's probably no benefit in giving them oyster shell in my opinion - they will get all the minerals they need from the ground. A layers pellet or mash is really all that's required. As far as vaccination goes, commercial vaccinations only last 75 weeks, so even if your hens were vaccinated (and it's quite possible they have not been) then any vaccinations will have expired. As commercial flocks are deemed to be unproductive beyond the 75 week point, vaccine firms have no incentive to make vaccines which last in hens for any longer than this.

I have 4 black rocks and one of them has some form of broncial infection - it does not seem to be transferrable and she is otherwise very perky. She lays more regularly than the others but the eggs are very rough shelled.

Not very conclusive...sorry!