Eggs Without Shells
I have a hen who lays eggs without the shells. I am unsure as to whom the culprit is.
I will find either an icky mess or I will also find the egg with the membrane intact sitting among the other eggs. I feed a high quality layer pellet, and have oyster shell available at all times.
All of my hens free range. So why would a hen lay an egg without its shell.
Any ideas?
I have another question. I have horses and worm them regularly. As I mentioned my hens free range and one of their favorite activities is to dig into the horse manure. Yippee. As a result, is there an issue with them getting the wormer into their systems? If so would this be an issue for their eggs that I sell. I use a product with invermectin and praziquantel and once a year I use febendazole.
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Madalene Anderson
Hi Madalene,
Good questions. I’m not sure I have a good answer for the hen that lays the shell-less eggs. Since you have oyster shell available, and it sounds like the other hens lay eggs with good shells, there must be something different about this hen. She could have some internal problem that interferes with her calcium metabolism. I’m not sure what it might be exactly, but it’s possible. She might have some problem with her oviduct, so she expels the egg too early during its formation. It has been shown that some hens lay their eggs at different levels of development, though this is pretty extreme. I suppose she is eating something different that interferes with normal shell formation. Good eggshells require the hen to have a balance of calcium, phosphorous, and vitamin D, so maybe she is eating something different. I’m not sure this is high on my list of guesses, however! She could have had a virus that damaged her oviduct, too. Infectious bronchitis can cause wrinkled eggshells, etc., so I suppose it’s possible that she could have had damage to the extent that she lays soft-shelled eggs.
So, I think that if all the other hens are laying eggs with solid shells, there may just be something about that one hen, and therefore, there’s probably not much you can do for her.
Now, about the dewormer. I don’t think there would be enough dewormer to cause a problem. The amount you give the horse is a fairly small amount. That gets diluted out in quite a bit of manure, I would expect. The chickens surely aren’t eating huge amounts of horse manure (!), and then what they eat would have to get absorbed into their system and deposited into their eggs. I think with all of these steps, the amount that gets into any egg would be pretty minimal. So I don’t think there’s any need to worry.
Good luck with your flock.
Listless Guineas
My guineas (one pictured above) have a hunched back and droopy head, feathers that are not smooth, and droopy wings; they are listless and then expire. They have been on medicated feed in the past.
They were hatched about the last week of June under a guinea and a hen. They were moved to another house, which is brand new and they are the only birds in the house. They started showing the symptoms about two weeks ago and two died Monday and one today. Protein in food is 18 percent. They have a large area, 14-feet by 12-feet, and two feeders and two waters that are changed two times a day. Temperatures are running 100 degrees this week, but symptoms began before triple digit temps, and their new house is insulated and a fan circulates air all the time. I don’t see any diarrhea or respiratory symptoms, and they have not had any exposure to any birds since hatch. I’ve never had any problems with guineas.
Any idea what this could be so that I can eliminate?
Karen Barron
Hi Karen,
I would suggest you look for a feed with a higher protein level. Many people feed guineas a game bird ration or turkey starter, if you can find it. Protein levels of 24 to 26 percent are usually suggested for starting guineas. As they get to be a few weeks old, you can probably lower the protein, but I think this will give them a good start and you’ll likely see noticeable improvements in their feathering and overall health.
Good luck with them!
Buyer Beware
At the end of October we purchased 12 two-month-old Delaware chickens from a person in Pennsylvania who advertised started pullets on Craigslist. Within two weeks after we brought them home and put them into our brand new chicken house, they started dying. The first three looked fine one day and were dead the next day.
The fourth one became paralyzed with no leg control and could only lay on its side. We tried to nurse it along, but after four days it died. We took three dead birds to the PA Animal Diagnostic Laboratory at Penn State. The diagnosis on Nov. 21, 2012, was visceral and neural Marek’s disease along with severe intestinal roundworm infestation.
I contacted the seller of these birds and sent him a copy of the report from the lab. He stated that none of his birds had these issues. I had told a friend about this seller and the friend purchased four Black Australorpes from him. Two of the Australorpes have died. Within the past week, two more of our birds have died leaving five left from the original dozen.
What really bothers me about this (not to mention the loss of $85) is that the seller continues to advertise birds on Craigslist. The moral of the story: be very careful about buying started birds from a backyard seller without any guarantee that they are disease free.
From what we have learned, Marek’s is transmitted through the environment to birds that have not been vaccinated. Therefore our new house will have to be decontaminated carefully before any new birds go in. Do you have any comments on this?
Chip Ruhl
Pennsylvania
Hi Chip,
I think there is some reason to be concerned about the person selling the chickens, but I’ll also defend them a bit. I don’t think they could know that the chickens were going to suffer from Marek’s disease. There seems to be some genetic variation in resistance to this disease, so some chickens get it and others don’t. The virus that causes Marek’s disease tends to be pretty common most places. In my poultry disease class, we were taught to assume that all chickens had been exposed to it.
I generally suggest vaccinating day-old chicks for this, since there is no cure for it later. Since the virus multiplies and spreads through feather dander, I’m not sure
you’ll be able to completely clean your coop, so you may want to develop a vaccination plan for the future. Even if you had not gotten these birds from this seller, I’m not sure you could have avoided Marek’s disease. In the seller’s defense, he would not have known whether or not the chickens he sold you would have gotten Marek’s or not.
I’m a little less sure about the worms. I don’t think these chickens developed worms that quickly from your house, especially since you started with a new chicken house. Again, however, if the seller never cut into any of his birds, he may not know they have worms. Until they get a pretty heavy load, many chickens will have some worms and their owners may never know it. When they get bad, you will eventually see worms in the droppings, or rarely in an egg!
I would hope that after you alerted the seller, they would look into some treatment for worms.
I will definitely agree that buying chickens from Craig’s List, or from similar outlets, can be risky. You can sometimes buy one chicken and get a disease or two for free. Probably the safest route is to buy day-old chicks from a reputable hatchery. This can sometimes limit your breed selection, etc., but there are only a few diseases that are transmitted through the egg, and most hatcheries test and/or vaccinate their breeder flocks to be free of these.
I’m sorry you had such a tough introduction. Hopefully, your next flock won’t be so troublesome!
A Disease in the Spine?
I have been raising chickens for a couple of years and I have never seen anything like this last batch I got. I ordered 50 Black Australorps from a hatchery and when they arrived in the mail 10 were dead and a bunch more were lying on their back, kicking their legs and flapping their wings. If you sat them up they would just tip their head back and fall over again. Twenty-one chicks died in the first 48 hours. Somebody said it was a disease in the spine. Is this possible? If it is, how could you prevent it? Thank you for your help.
Danny Miller
Kentucky
Hi Danny,
It sounds like the chicks may have had a difficult time in shipping. My first guess is that they were just delayed in shipping, and were dehydrated and/or running out of yolk to live on. Chicks can normally live for two to three days on the residual yolk after hatching. Stresses such as cold temperatures will shorten that time. Likewise hot, dry conditions can shorten the time due to moisture loss. A good way to check for dehydration on baby chicks is to look at the feet and legs. When the chicks are dehydrated, the skin on the legs will look dry and shriveled, often with a red line (actually a visible blood vessel) down the back of the shank. Dehydration and lack of energy can also cause the chicks to fall over like you described.
In the future, you might be able to give these chicks some TLC, including dipping their beaks in water multiple times, and salvage some of them. I wouldn’t make any promises, however.
There are some other things that could cause chicks to tip their heads back and fall over. It can be caused by a thiamin deficiency in the breeders, possibly aspergillosis (from the hatchery), improper incubation conditions, and genetic problems. Given the number of chicks that had this, and the dead chicks, I would guess it was due to shipping conditions. If you ordered these from a mail-order hatchery, you should have contacted them right away, and they will usually replace the chicks or credit you for the losses.
It’s still a very disappointing thing when you are expecting fluffy healthy chicks, and open the box to find something like this.
Hard Yolks
I have numerous chickens, a huge variety, couldn’t even begin to name them. I sell eggs and recently one of my customers has been complaining that the yolk is almost hard; it will just stand up, not like a normal egg yolk that is nice and yellow and will cook up nicely or can be stirred easily; these cannot even be broken up very easily. These are almost like they are hard, but they are fresh. I never let the eggs stay in the nests for more than a few hours at a time, I gather about four times a day because the hens break the eggs if I don’t. I sell all of my eggs in a short period of time, within a week, and none are ever older than a week when I sell to the customer. I am getting 15 to 20 dozen a week, and I have a good supply of customers but now they are starting to complain.
I had been lax at candleing my eggs, but when I do candle them, I don’t see anything to distinguish the hard yolk ones from the regular yolk eggs. What could be causing this weirdness in the eggs? They are not old or anything.
Jeanie Schlautmann
Wyoming
Hi Jeanie,
There are a couple of possibilities that I know of to check. First, you might look at the storage conditions for your eggs. If the eggs are frozen, the yolks will get solid, and will remain that way even if the eggs warm up again. While most eggs will crack when frozen, I think it might be possible to get the effect in the yolk without freezing solid enough to crack the egg. Is it possible that the eggs closest to the cooling area in your refrigerator might be getting too cold?
Second, check the feed. Cottonseed can cause rubbery egg yolks. Cottonseed meal isn’t normally included in chicken diets, but it is fairly common in some rations for cows, so if the feed mill makes a mistake, or doesn’t get things cleaned up thoroughly, there could be some in a chicken diet. Sometimes this will also cause a green or olive color to the yolks, so that would be another clue. The same chemical in cottonseed may be in other related plants. Cotton is related to mallows, hibiscus, and okra, so if any of these are present and the chickens are eating the seeds, they could likely cause a similar problem.
Good luck with it!
Worms in Eggs
I have raised chickens my entire life and have never had this. I had an egg this morning that had a worm in it. All I could think of was a wire worm. It was about 2-inches long and white, and pointy at both ends. The egg had been in the refrigerator about a week. When I cracked it open the white was like water. Can you tell me what this is and if I need to do anything for my chickens? I do not want to see this again.
Norma Gusler
Hi Norma,
Unfortunately, this can happen occasionally. It is most likely a roundworm from the hen. These “normally” live in the intestine of a chicken, and there are different thoughts as to how they get into the egg. Worm larvae can migrate through the tissues of an animal, so it’s possible that one made its way from the intestine to the oviduct, then developed. More likely, I think, it probably got to the end of the intestine at the cloaca (vent) of the hen, then crawled back up into the oviduct.
Either way, it was in the oviduct, so it got incorporated into an egg, and you got the rather unpleasant luck of finding it!
While it is rare, it is not terribly unusual (we probably get a handful of questions about it each year). Probably, most chicken flocks that are not kept in cages will have some worms. In commercial cage-free flocks, any worms in the eggs would usually be picked up during candling, though even that isn’t fool-proof. Since most of us don’t regularly candle eggs at home, this safeguard isn’t in place.
That brings up a bit of a dilemma, since there are no dewormers labeled for use in laying hens.
If you are only using the eggs for your own consumption, there are some options available. Piperazine is labeled for use in growing chickens, but you could use it. You will have to decide on a withdrawal period that you are comfortable with. I know a lot of people will decide to wait 10 days to two weeks. Ivermectin products are also used by a lot of hobby chicken growers. Again, there is no published withdrawal period since it is an off-label use. Diatomaceous earth has been recommended by some, though I’ve not seen any research that showed whether it is helpful or not (to treat roundworms).
Since worm eggs are excreted in the droppings, and since these eggs can survive in the soil for a long time, it can be difficult to completely get rid of the problem. You may decide to deworm on a regular schedule. If it’s an option, rotating pastures can help decrease the number of eggs in a given area over time. That can be difficult with a small area of land, however.
Good luck with it, and sorry you had to have such a find!
Poopy Chicken
One of my chickens is very poopy on her behind. She is acting normal. My mom and I gave her a bath but then she got all poopy again. What do you think is wrong with her and what do you think we should do now?
Luna Burkland
Vermont
Hi Luna,
Depending on the age of the chicken, there are a few possibilities. With baby chicks, this is often a sign of some stress, especially being chilled. It usually goes away pretty quickly.
In young chickens, from 1 to 6 months old or so, it could be coccidiosis. This is a disease that damages the intestine and causes diarrhea. It can be treated with amprolium, which is added to the water. Most chickens become resistant to this after a while, as long as it doesn’t get so bad that it kills them first.
I’m guessing your chicken is older than this. In older hens, this can happen and it’s often a sign of an internal problem. It could just be due to a change in her diet that changes the consistency of her droppings. If she is free-ranging, she may have eaten something different.
She may have a viral disease called lymphoid leukosis. This can causes tumors, and sometimes the hen will have a dirty vent area, as you mentioned. There is no treatment for this, but some hens will live with it for quite a while.
She could also have an infection, often called egg yolk peritonitis. This often occurs when some egg yolks miss the oviduct and fall to the bottom of the hen’s body cavity instead. The hen can then get a bacterial infection in this area. Sometimes, antibiotics will help treat this. Again, some hens will live with this for a long time.
I think it’s possible that worms could cause this, too.
Unfortunately, leukosis or peritonitis are probably the two most common causes. Hopefully, that’s not the case with your hen and she will get better soon. Good luck with her!
Wobbly Hen
One of our (1 year old) Golden Comet hens is faring poorly (pictured). Two days ago I noticed her lying on the ground, and I was sure we had lost her to a predator attack, but when I checked her there was no blood and she was warm and breathing, but seemed senseless and unable to move. Her eyes were closed and her head rolled back, but from time to time she would open one or both eyes and then close them again.
Her eyes were bright when open and her comb red and she seemed otherwise healthy. I separated her for the night and by morning she seemed to have recovered enough to be returned to the flock.
Today she seems to be struggling again. When I put out some treats (bread ends and corn cobs) she tried to pick at them, but her eyes closed and her balance is poor, and she was unable to eat the treats.
I think we are going to need to cull her, but can you think of any cause for this kind of malingering? These have been lovely, productive, pretty birds and I hate to lose one, although we all know it happens.
Anne Dillenbeck
Hi Anne,
It’s difficult to know what might be causing this. There are a number of things that could affect the brain (that might cause the senseless behavior). She may have flown into something and caused physical trauma.
There are fungal diseases (aspergillosis) that can affect the brain. Viral diseases, such as Newcastle disease, could, too. Nutritionally, dehydration can cause this, though I think her comb would have been purple and a bit shriveled if this was the problem. Some vitamin deficiencies (A or possibly E) could also cause neural problems. I imagine there could be other reasons, too. You could try giving her a human multi-vitamin to see if it improved things. If it was physical trauma, she may get better with time. (Since it’s now been more than a week, I imagine she has either died or improved by now.)
For a firm diagnosis, you’d need to find an avian veterinarian or your state veterinary diagnostic lab. They would likely euthanize her and do a necropsy, but you might be able to determine a cause to protect the rest of the flock.
Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you.
Helping With Mystery Bumps
I also have a Cochin (Birchin) with a bump on its foot. A year ago March, it appeared and after two series of antibiotics, my vet took an X-ray and there was an entire curled up, ingrown feather in there.
Even after surgery, the feather is still coming back curled and I have to watch it so it doesn’t heal over.
As the feather ingrows, something called “keritan” forms around the feather. It looks like wax and takes a long time to reabsorb. That’s why it looks so swollen. It has been a long time in healing; but Oberon is a pet, sleeps with me, is completely house broken and leash trained and he was worth the money spent. Hope this helps you.
Charlotte McClelland
California
Hi Charlotte,
That’s very interesting. I can see how that might happen occasionally with feather-footed breeds. Thanks for the message, and I’ll keep that in mind for the future!
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