Irregular Eggshells

Hyacinth the Easter Egger has been laying eggs with unusual shells. On Saturday her egg was entirely without a shell. Often the egg's rubbery membrane will hold together the yolk and white, but on Saturday the whole mess was broken and sloppy. On Sunday, Hyacinth's green eggshell was unusually bumpy which you can see in the photo above.

We think that the irregularities in shell quality are due to a change in diet. When we incorporated the pullets with the hens a week ago, we needed to provide chick food rather than layer rations. Layer rations are too high in calcium for the non-laying pullets; the extra calcium could damage their kidneys. So all the girls are getting chick food, and we're providing additional calcium for the hens with oyster shell in a small dish. Perhaps it took Hyacinth an extra day or two to discover the calcium supplement, which probably accounts for the irregular shells. Today her egg was normal again. Rosie and Wisteria have been unaffected.