Chicken laying thin (or no) shell eggs

[OzarkMike]

I don't think their shell problem is breed specific or caused by inbreeding, as I've allowed inbreeding of mixed breeds to the same rooster for the past 10 years and basically have has no issues. When I had an instance of thin shells eggs, I never actually observed which hen was laying the bad egg. They are kind of secretive with their laying, but I suspected since I had 10 hens and always only had one bad egg, it was isolated to just one of my hens. Early on, I lost two young hens. One to respiratory (White Rock) and the other to enteroteric disease (RI Red). I isolated them from the main flock, and the rest of the flock didn't get sick. It's pretty easy to identify a sick bird early on because they start getting picked on long before you notice a health issue. Plus sick birds don't lay eggs.

I wouldn't go to extremes trying to fix the problem, because chickens are either hardy or they die. Not worth paying for a vet visit. I would try feeding a high quality layer crumble for a while. Change out their nesting material with some fresh straw, and give them fresh water every day. Try this for a while and let nature take it's course.

 

[EddieWalker]

I free range mine, along with two feeders full of Fancy Scratch and a pile of Egg Ration dumped on the floor. I get about 2 dozen eggs per day, and lately there has been one egg that I seem to always put my thumb through. It's supper soft and thin. I'm trying to figure out who it is, but since all the other eggs are perfect, I don't think it's a feed issue. I'm thinking it's an older bird, or maybe one that's sick.

 

[genusCastor]

Well, the old hen started laying good eggs again, I don't really think because of any changes I made. All I changed was placing the calcium supply in its own feeder (not in with the chicken feed). She may have been a little stressed, as her laying a couple bum eggs was around the time I moved the five pullets into the coup with her.

I still dunno what the issue was with the other mix-breed hens I got rid of, a couple of them were laying thin shelled eggs. But the guy I gave them to said they're laying fine at his place. I suppose it's possible the hens were not getting the calcium from the feed, and would have gotten it if there was an external feeder like there is now...

- djb