My girls have been laying for about two months now, usually nice big brown eggs, but every once in a while they'll lay an egg without a shell. What causes that? Is it just because they are so young, 5 1/2 months old, or is it their diet? Sometimes they'll lay a good egg in the morning, and then in the afternoon they'll lay another one without a shell. They get to free range during the day, and eat bugs and dirt and stuff, and they also get fruit and vegetable scraps, and a regular commercial feed.
Eggs without shells
do you have allot of chickens...I was told it was because it was the first egg they laid....so I counted about how many eggs i got like that and it came within a few birds I have... and it seemed do-able....
found this in my chicken keeping newsletter today..thought it would be of interest..
"One of our three chickens has started laying eggs without a
shell. They're in the sac and rather jelly like! I thought it was
just a blip, but we're still finding them after 4 days, so would
be glad to find out what's happening. Is it likely to be dietary?
They get mash morning and evening and a few handfuls of corn in
the afternoon and have access to grit and water. They also get
greens such as spinach, lettuce, carrot peelings and left over
veg. most days. We give them a scatter of dried mealworms as a
treat. We've had them since April and they are all good layers,
we get three eggs a day. They are moulting a little, but it
hasn't made any difference to the laying so far, unless this is
the cause of the odd eggs. Any help welcomed please!" ~ Michelle
Perrott
Michelle, we get questions like yours often so I'm glad you
wrote.
It sounds like your chickens are getting a great diet and that
you take very good care of them. I can only assume that their
calcium intake is too low.
The shell is the last step in the egg's formation, save only the
protective coating called the bloom. It is made up mostly of
calcium carbonate, in fact 97% of the egg's shell is calcium
carbonate.
One more quick statistic before your eyes start to glaze over and
you begin to fall asleep; calcium carbonate is 40% calcium.
The point is that laying hens need a lot of calcium. In fact the
shell gland must contain on average, 2.5g of elemental calcium to
produce each egg shell.
This calcium is taken in through the hen's diet.
Calcium is delivered to the shell gland via the blood stream, the
intestine and from reserves stored in the medullary bone.
A side note here; we've talked recently about the pros and cons
of allowing your hens a natural time of rest annually by not
providing artificial light to lengthen their daylight hours in
the fall / winter. When a hen slows down or even temporarily
stops producing eggs during her annual molt, the calcium reserves
have an opportunity to be replenished.
If you are going to keep your hen for only a few seasons and then
send her to the stew pot, these reserves are not as important.
However, a hen that does not have a reserve of calcium will have
brittle bones.
So the question is, "How do I get all that calcium into my
chicken?"
My preference for providing calcium is through a free choice
offering of crushed oyster shell. Oyster shell is not terribly
expensive and because of it‘s size, it remains in the gizzard,
slowly breaking down and providing a constant supply of calcium
to the blood stream.
Limestone is another choice for calcium supplementation.
If fact, in areas where limestone is prevalent, limestone is much
more commonly used than any other supplement. Limestone is more
quickly digested and therefore 50 to 60 % retention of calcium
can be expected. This is important because you'll need to provide
more limestone to get sufficient calcium retention.
Some people prefer to supplement with egg shells. Wash the shells
and let them thoroughly dry or spread them on a cookie sheet and
place in an oven at a low temperature until they are very dry and
brittle. Crush the shells and offer them to your flock in a
separate free choice container.
My nature causes me to be a little skeptical about using egg
shells because of the law of diminishing returns but I have no
statistics to back that up.
Because chickens know what they are lacking dietarily, you can
offer any of the above supplements in a free choice container.
Your chickens will eat them as needed - isn't that neat?
Michelle, I realize that your hens are older but for those of you
who have hens that are just starting to lay, odd shelled eggs are
common. It will take some time for your girls to get the hang of
laying. Prior to point of lay their calcium requirements are
lower. As they mature, be sure to provide a commercial feed
formulated for laying hens or to provide additional calcium in
their rations. Always provide a calcium supplement for strong
bones, egg shells and for feather replacement.
So if you are having problems with soft shelled, misshapen
shelled or no shelled eggs, your first course of action would be
to provide more calcium.
Keep in mind that it may take 4 to 5 days to start seeing the
results.
If soft shells or misshapen ones are a regular problem in mature
hens and additional calcium has not rectified the problem,
consult a veterinarian.
There are a few diseases and infections that could be present and
need to be addressed. Take comfort though as there would most
likely be other symptoms present if this were the case.
I hope this has been informative.
Have a Wonderful Week,
Great info.. but I have had only 1 egg in the past two weeks...but next time I'm at the co-op I'm getting something...lol
thanks for posting that
mine get oyster shells mixed in with their feed. that way if they want it they just have to eat it..otherwise they get grit and any other goodies i have,,right now its fresh corn out of the field..they are spoiled..lol
cindy
Thank you
I will definitely try the oyster shell. This morning they both laid eggs, then about 2 hours later one laid a shell less one.
years back you could buy a box of ground shell at wall mart...in with the bird food dpt.
the article said it stays with them for awhile.... so I don't see buying a 50 lb bag or anything...
I'll look this weekend
Where can you get oyster shell? We used to buy it at a feed store that went out of business. It's silly because this is an oystering region, but no one has the ground shells!
That's a good question. Can you get oyster shell at Pet Smart or something like that?
I usually get it at the feed store, but I have also bought it at Tractor Supply. Our Walmart also used to carry it along with various feeds. Now they only have pet foods.
birds need grit..all birds...I use to get it for my parrot years back at wally world...years back....
We have a Tractor Supply; I'll have to see if they carry it. It's a new store for our area but it's very convenient!
thats where i get my feed and oyster shells at tractor supply. i love that place..maybe sometimes too much,,lol they carry all kinds of goodies for our "kids",,
DH found oyster shells at Tractor Supply - thanks for the tip! My hens are happy!
It doesn't make sense to me that if the hen was low on calcium, she would lay a normally shelled egg in the morning, and then an egg with no shell in the afternoon. If low calcium was the cause, I would expect all the eggs to have thin shells, but not some normally shelled and then some without any shell at all. The hen will pull calcium from her bones if there is no calcium in the diet and your young hens sound like they are on a good diet.
I think it's more likely to be a "hiccup" in the egg-making process that's causing this. I've seen it with younger hens before, and it usually resolves as they get older.
I am still learning about caring for hens. I keep my hens confined to the exercise pen to force them to eat their laying mash. Around 4 in the afternoon we let them out to free range for just a couple hours. If they have their choice, they'd stay outside all day eating grass and bugs I think. I assumed (maybe wrongly) that they need their mash more since it has the calcium and nutrients in it. I figured the bugs and grass are just a dessert. :)
I have a dozen hens and we're pretty much getting a dozen eggs a day now. Some eggs are super huge with double yolks. All the shells are really thick. I've wondered if laying mash varies from one source to another in quality.
Brenda
Brenda, that is an excellent question about the quality. There is generally a tag on the feed bags explaining the ingredients. However I find most I buy is 16%, but when I buy it in canada the laying crumbles is 18% so there is a difference. I tend to agree with Gallesfarm, I don't believe this is a calcium issue, I read all the coments and I think it is an age and proccessing issue. I think you will find chickens inherintly know what they need the most, and I would let them free range more and allow them their choice with the mash as a back up. Remember where chickens come from and their was no mash in their diet. Mash is a supplement free range is and should be their regular diet. Oyster shell is ok, but I never buy it as in free range they will eat all the grit and gravel they need. Just my opinion, I wish you every success. Hay
I found some ground oyster shell at Pet Smart, but it was labled for reptiles. Do you think that would be ok for chickens too?
What happens in the winter when they can't free range because the ground is frozen and covered with snow? Are you supposed to buy some greens or vegetables to supplement the mash with? Or, is the mash a complete diet? We do give ours some corn too. I also save kitchen scraps from making salads for them.
You can just feed them layer mash in the winter and add whatever scraps you have available. They will do fine. The mash is complete, but more expensive than bugs and greens. :-) But in the winter you don't really have a choice, so mash it is.
I feed layer pellets, scratch grain, and they forage for bugs and such. I wish I could let mine free range more but they get into the neighbor's property. I have some poultry netting strung into the woods from the main fence around the coop so I can open the gate and let them in that area and they can have more room to hunt goodies on their own. Still, I feed more store-bought feed now than at our old place where they had a whole meadow to roam in. During summer they ate very little of the layer pellets because they were full of other yummies!
I put out oyster shell (for the extra calcium, not so much for the grit function) for them too. NH sure ain't short of grit so they find that on their own!
This may sound stupid, but do you allow your chickens to free range when it's raining and cold? I have mine inside their exercise pen and won't let them out because it's cold and raining. I'm afraid they'll get wet and sick. Are they smart enough to come in out of the rain or would they just stay out there all day till dark?
It's raining here today, although not cold, and my chickens are out. They usually come in if it rains really hard. However, they seem to be remarkably waterproof.
In the 50s here today and raining,they have a choice to be in or out and they are outside for awhile then back in even the silkies.
Thats it I want a Tractor Supply....
my chickens love to be out when its raining..they seem to catch worms and other things that arent normally out. even tho mine ge3t layer crumples all year round, i still supplement with oyster shells and grit,,they eat what they want to..and of course they get corn and whatever veges and stuff i can get for them..
Mine stay out in the rain, or go in, as they feel like it. Sometimes they just stand there and let the rain fall as if they are taking a shower. They point their tails at the ground and stand more upright to let the rain run off them.