# Barred Rock laying shelless eggs



## lttdoming (May 31, 2013)

I have a 25 week Barred Rock who has been laying about a month now. She usually lays late in the afternoon and they are beautiful brown eggs with a hard shell. (Her 1st two eggs had no shell.)

For 5 days now she has been laying shelless eggs. The membrane is intact but no shell at all. They look and feel like water balloons. Funny thing is... they are laid outside the nesting box????

She has been on layer pellets for 6 weeks or so and has access to calcium chips.

Any idea why this would happen all of the sudden?


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## MaransGuy (Jul 15, 2013)

I have a Leghorn hen who has been doing this for forever. Don't understand why. ???


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## Courage (Sep 21, 2013)

I would immediately respond with "give them more calcium!", but since you are feeding it already, I don't know what to say! Is she eating the calcium?


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## lttdoming (May 31, 2013)

I'm really not sure if she is eating the calcium. Today I mixed it in the feed and added apple cider vinegar to the waterers.

I'm getting a little nervous....

I did introduce two silkies to the flock. I've been raising them since they were chicks. I did the whole crate inside the coop for a few weeks. So they have been around the big girls for about a month now. 

Now that the "babies" are living full time in the coop for two weeks, could that disrupt her laying?


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

It truly has nothing to do with a calcium deficiency if you are feeding a balanced ration, so adding calcium will not help...it will merely be excreted by the kidneys as these birds can only metabolize so much calcium. 

Glitches in the shell gland performance due to whatever...new layer, old bird, hormone fluctuation, illness, injury, etc. 

It happens now and again. If it's happening to the same bird over and over for a long time, that bird needs to be culled as that is not normal and those leather eggs are painful to have...they are rough on the exterior and soft in shape, so they move slowly through the oviduct and are uncomfortable to lay. This is why most are found on the floor of the coop and even off the roost, as the bird most likely doesn't feel like she is laying but merely having a bowel movement.


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## lttdoming (May 31, 2013)

I found two rubber eggs under her roost this AM. There was also a large amount of droppings. Is this because she is pushing to hard?
How can her body produce two in one night?

She is acting totally normal and looks great. I've read online that sometimes this can work itself out.

How long do I give her? I would hate to cull a bird that may improve.
She is such a sweetie.


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## Bee (Jun 20, 2013)

lttdoming said:


> I found two rubber eggs under her roost this AM. There was also a large amount of droppings. Is this because she is pushing to hard?
> How can her body produce two in one night?
> 
> She is acting totally normal and looks great. I've read online that sometimes this can work itself out.
> ...


If one is passing too slowly, you may be seeing yesterday's egg and today's egg at the same time. The extra poop could be due to straining.

It can work itself out so just wait and see...meanwhile it's pretty hard on her, so just watch her close. I've never seen more than a couple of these a year from my entire flock and usually at the same times of the year(slow down to molt, restarting after slow down)...and that's old and young, all different breeds and many different birds over the years, so you can see how abnormal it is for one hen to have these many times in a row.


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## lttdoming (May 31, 2013)

Three days ago she started laying eggs again. She went right back to the nesting box and the shells are perfect.

It is so strange how she laid rubber eggs for almost two weeks. 

Needless to say I am very happy!


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