[Tricia]

I posted this elsewhere and have been advised to put in in the poultry section. I have just found out how to do that - so here it is:

Hi, I am a relatively new hen owner - 3 ex caged battery hens.  I have had them for about 10 weeks.  They have been laying consitently since I got them and they have not really slowed down ever since, even with the very short daylight hours.  My query is about the quality of the shells of one of the hens eggs.  What happens is that there will be one egg with too much shell, all lumpy and oddly shaped, then the next one will be very soft shell, sometimes too soft to pick up and it breaks, then there may be a perfect egg, then no egg, then the lumpy one again, and the cycle continues.  It has been that way pretty well since the beginning.  More recently, all of her eggs are very soft and are often broken before I can get to them - probably by another hen laying next to it or it being walked on, etc.  I have only an inkling as to which hen it is and have no possibility of seperating them to find out which one.  I'm not sure what I would do anyway, even if I did know for sure.  They have easy access to oyster grit, I have cooked up egg shells and pulverised them down to a fine pwoder and put that back in their food, they have been wormed, they get a lot of variety in the areas that they can peck around, and have plenty of food including a handful of mixed corn daily.  The hen that I think has the problem is also the smallest, not seeming to have put on as much weight as the others.  Any ideas, Tricia

[hairyhetty]

are they on layers pellets? commercial egg layers are usually exhausted when they are rehomed. u cud put one hen at a time in a small crate/cage til they laid an egg to isolate which one it is, then ring its leg til u work out a cure. once eggs start getting broken - its a short step towards the hens eating theyre own eggs which is a nightmare and they teach the rest aswell.

[cookie]

hiya I had this problem with my chickens, they were laying soft shelled eggs and then eating them before I could get to them.  I added a pure calcium suppliment to their food and it has worked a treat.  No more soft shells and they have stopped eating the eggs.  Hope this is of use to you.

[andy harris]

I had that problem quite a few times...The first time was when she was going through a very bad moult and she was getting old.The rest of the time ive just cruched up egg shells in my hand and that worked for me.

[manian]

mine are smaller after a moult too. only 1-2 days though