# Chicken keeps laying semi-formed eggs??



## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

A few times my Americauna chicken laid broken eggs, which I had seen before so I wasn't worried. It was like they broke inside her before they even formed so the shel was soft and shriveled up

Then she started laying eggs like this..







The egg is totally soft like it is just the inner membrane and I think that tail thing was supposed to be the shell..

After she laid this she didn't lay an egg for a couple days. Then she laid another just like it maybe even softer..

She is almost a year old according to the feed store I got her from several months ago.. Maybe closer to 9-10 months..

She has always been pretty thin since I got her, eats well, drinks well and is very active..

Anyone know what's wrong with my girl? Maybe missing something in her diet?

Thank you for reading!


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

What does she eat? I was told that low calcium causes "soft shell" eggs, so I added layer feed to their diet instead of the previous scratch mix. My chickens haven't laid an odd egg since then.

As for her being thin, she may need to be wormed and treated for cocci.


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

She has free access to layer crumbles and oyster shells, she occasionally gets scratch grains, whole oats or BOSS.. but she is a free range chicken and she prefers to roam the property and eat bugs and forage through the goats hay that has been dropped..

My vet doesn't do chickens.. Do you think she could have worms or cocci and the other girls be fine?


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

I'm not very chicken savvy lol, but I know hoeggers herbal wormer can be used, or DE. Not sure what chemical wormer you could use. A small chicken may have been the runt, but a thin (bony) hen is usually wormy. Especially if the feathers are dull..


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

I'm hoping she will mold soon.. She was really beat up when I got her and is missing a lot of feathers.. Plus they trimmed her wings...

I'm not sure if her feathers are what I would cal, dull, but she is definitely bony, not small.. My other girls are very large and well filled out..


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Here this might help you out

http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/causes-and-cures-for-soft-shelled-and-shell-less-eggs/


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## glndg (Feb 8, 2013)

HappyCaliGoats said:


> I'm hoping she will mold soon.. She was really beat up when I got her and is missing a lot of feathers.. Plus they trimmed her wings...
> 
> I'm not sure if her feathers are what I would cal, dull, but she is definitely bony, not small.. My other girls are very large and well filled out..


I wouldn't wish molding on anyone or anything. :-o


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

Ivermectin can be used for chickens orally or topically, but I couldn't find a dosage so maybe someone else will know. I believe it's the kind used on puppies. VermX is supposed to be a great wormer for chickens, pricey but effective. There's lots of choices just do some google searches.

I'm sure the weird egg had to do with nutritional deficiencies, but you're feeding her well so I don't know what it could be?


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

goathiker said:


> Here this might help you out
> 
> http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/causes-and-cures-for-soft-shelled-and-shell-less-eggs/


Great info in that article! Thank you! She does get bullied... All the time... I'm going to separate her tomorrow.. I was separating her when I first got her, maybe that's why her eggs were normal then? Not sure but the only way I can separate her is to put her in one of the goat pens so I have to figure out where to put her food so the goats can't get it..


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

That's easy, put it outside the fence so she can reach her head through to eat.


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

But then all the other chickens will just eat it all.. Or peck her head as she tries to get some.. :lol:


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

The chickens are completely free range till I Locke them up in their coop at night. They can go anywhere they want except in the goat pens unless I let them in.. Which I do sometimes to clean up scraps.


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## canyontrailgoats (Jan 4, 2014)

That's an interesting article! I sit with my bullied hen and let her eat her fill while keeping the others at bay, morning and evening. Of course this takes time and effort but I only have three hens so yeah :lol:


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

If needed, I have Ivomec, wazine, and sulfamethazine (for cocci) but I think I will see if it is stress related first.. Poor girl.. Maybe she needs a young chicken friend and they can just live in the goat pen.. Maybe a small breed so it can't beat her up? :lol:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Put a screen around her food on the outside. I use Piperazine for my chickens.


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

I think wazine is piperazine? Not sure.. I'll figure something out for her though...


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## HappyCaliGoats (Mar 19, 2014)

I can't remember if I dewormers her when I got her... But I usually do.. I just don't really write it down for chickens.... I usually do some kind of deworming plus dust bath with poultry dust for mites or just Ivomec, I really don't remember what she has gotten..


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