three chickens three shell less eggs in one day help

10 years ago

I posted my problem with "Shell less eggs" as a subject yesterday.
Today I use this subject so that it can attract more attention. Please follow. I am really worried.
This is what I wrote and the responses I got:

Some days ago I posted that my rooster (Felipe) swallowed a big chunk of Styrofoam. Well, there were no consequences other than that I found out that roosters are not allowed in my area. So, yesterday (sob X 6) (three sobs are mine and one for each of Felipe's wives) I give him to a friend who swore Felipe will not be invited to dinner.
Well, to the point. This morning I found THREE (3) shell less eggs!!!
Possible causes?
1) Last night was the first time Felipe was not in his perch surrounded by his amorous wives.

2) Last night I forgot to close the door of my coop (not the first time).

I know its not rare to find an occasional shell less egg; but three out of three in the same day???

Any one of you guys have had a similar experience?
Felipe and wives are ameraucanas

Response 1:
I'm not a chicken person (other than to eat them), but I must say that Filipe is much too handsome to eat!

Response 2:
When my pet duck started laying shell-less eggs I took her to an avian vet.
She said it's not normal & indicates some problem with lack of calcium or calcium adsorption.

So make sure your hens have free access to calcium & other minerals & vitamins that affect it. Most folks give chickens oyster shell grit. If they are yard hens, they'll pick up vitamin A & D3 (often too low in all-grain diets) from greens they pick at. Chickweed, that is a winter annual down here is very nutritious. Kitchen scraps like vegetable trimmings are good, too.

If you're getting shell-less eggs on a regular basis, there might be some sort of metabolic problem. But it seems like if all three laid them, at once, maybe it's more nutritional.

Does seem odd that all three coincided with Filipe's removal--maybe stress can cause that, too--poor chickens.

Then I wrote:
Thanks Blue Girl.
One thing I did not mention was that I was trying to make sourdough bread (following Amy's recipe I found here in GW, that uses rye flour) , the discarded portion of the starter went to the compost pile where the chicks have access. Now, rye and other grasses like oats are prone to get a fungus named Claviceps purpurea (I do not know the common name in English) which is known to induce miscarriage in cows and sometimes it was used to induce abortion in humans..
I used organic rye floor. Do you think that could be the cause.
My chickens have access to a lot to weeds and trims from my garden, Their egg's shell are noticeable harder than the eggs I used to buy (its my only experience with ameraucanas then I do not know if the hard shell is normal for this breed.) In one word malnutrition is discarded. Besides, a shell less egg is not too common and as you said ALL THREE in the same day...??? I can bet the probability of that event is smaller than one in a million.

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Comments (4)

bluegirl_gw
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Perhaps stress can accelerate egg passage so that a shell doesn't get deposited before the egg is expelled. I'm not a vet, but the timing, & all THREE laying shell-less eggs, right after a couple of stressful events...

I'd keep an eye one them, but would be inclined to write it off to stress--this time.

(for what it's worth, my pet duck had some sort of metablic disease, possibly even cancer. Her bones were terribly decalcified--had her x-rayed--& the vet was able to humanely euthanize her with an injection. don't want to worry you, just explain the radical & probably completely different problem she had. She was laying soft-shells regularly, which is why I took her in to a vet who treated birds)

It's true that various grain fungi--like aspergillosus (sp?) can be deadly to birds--if consumed. That's why the seed in feeders needs to stay DRY & the feeders frequently cleaned. But the effects are pretty severe--staggers, respiration difficulty--& your hens sound fine.

As you observed, home laid eggs from hens well-cared for that have access to greens--the shells are like rock! & the yolks are so much deeper colored & tasty.
bluegirl_gw
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh, I see Pkponder Googled & replied to the original post...

Yes, stress CAN cause it. I bet that's your only problem--the girls got upset missing Filipe & perhaps something also scared them the night the door was left open.
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gardenper
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My quail have also occasionally laid shell-less eggs. There was definitely some same concerns of stress or fear, but I have also seen that I think it was related to starting a new cycle. For example, if they lay an egg every 24 hours (morning, day, or evening) but then suddenly they changed their time (shifted by a few hours, such as 8 hours) then it seems like the one that comes out early is just a mess, and then the next are normal again.

I'm not sure what makes them change the average time of day that they will lay the egg but since the next few days were normal again, this is what I seem to think about when it happens.

Oh and it was usually just 1 egg out of many that are like that, so that was another reason I excluded diet or change in diet as a reason.
wally_1936
10 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You need to check with your feed store. They need a mineral to produce a good shell. We bought crushed oyster shells to feed our chickens. Of course that was 60 years ago.

three chickens three shell less eggs in one day help

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bluegirl_gw

bluegirl_gw

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