Bugger

[AussieBirds]

The white face hen has been a good girl and laid an egg, I would say last night, BUT this morning it, the egg, was sitting on the little porch at the entrance of the nesting box with a hole in it. Looks like it broke and stuck to her as she came out of the box. There was a hole in it at the pointed end both birds were in the box when i did my feeding rounds this morning so who knows maybee one of them jumped on it. Something I did notice was the shell was very rough and also it seemed to me to be soft, any thoughts on this?

On the good side my Cinnamon hen is sitting on at least two egg and she is sitting tight on them I am only guessing here but the eggs are a couple of days old.


John

[Catbird]

Hey John,

I've felt the same texture on tiel eggs and also quail eggs before. I'm not sure what causes it, but my guess would be that perhaps the egg does not turn while travelling through the oviduct (as it should) and therefore the eggshell deposists are uneven.

At least she laid an egg! I'm sure there'll be many more to come

- Claire

[kim1]

I remember my dad had problems with uneven textured egg shells, some even had small lumps on them, turned out to be a bit too much calcium as he was feeding suppliments, didn't really affect the fertility or anything but he was worried it could hinder hatching as he had a poor hatch rate that year, some babies died dureing hatching. But could be something entirely differant.

[hillcresttiels]

Yes John a bit of all the above mentioned it,s what we call over calcification keep an eye on her she might develop Egg Binding cheers Frank

[AussieBirds]

Thanks for the heads up on that Ill watch her closley. They are both back in the nest box now so Ill check her in the morning.

John

[Zack]

John, the egg you described sort of sounds similar to once my hen laid. Except hers was hard not soft but is was rough and odd shaped instead of smooth.

Someone, either her, dad or one of the babies still in the next pecked a hole in this egg.
She went on to lay 6 more eggs which she is now sitting on. So far 5 of them are fertile.

Just out of curiosity guys, how do you stop a hen from getting too much calcium. My hen has access to cuttle fish and calcium/charcol & iodine/calcium mineral blocks.
She eats these as she requires. Would this result in over calcification of her eggs?

Thanks
Kazz

[hillcresttiels]

No i wouldn,t be concerned Karen theres not much that can be done about calcification it normally only affects one egg of the clutch and generally it's the 1st laid also known to cause egg binding which can be disastrous but most of the times getting a hen to absorb calcium is half the battle we can feed them as much calcium as possible but it is of little consequence if she cannot absorb it and Vitamin D3 is the major factor in calcium absorbtion a vitamin supplied by natural sunlight. cheers Frank

[Zack]

Sounds about right Frank, the first egg was the funny one. That was the one that was pecked.....that could be why it was pecked.

I had to have a chuckle at what you said regarding the absortion of calcium and sunlight. Not that you are wrong.
It is just ironic that Zack stuffs herself with cuttlefish and mineral block and then scuttles off back into the nest box.....when she needs the sunlight to help her absorb the calcium

She is nearly double shifting though. She sits at night and then she helps during the day too.
She is definately getting a rest after this clutch, as most of her time is spent in the box. She has no flight feathers on her right wing at the moment. Not sure if she pulled them or they came out if she was frightened. She doesn't seem harmed other than the feathers missing. All her other feathers are fine though.

Thanks
Kazz

[AussieBirds]

Well the hen has gone down again so i will check on the egg situation. Im guessing that she will lay more and I get some nice babies.

John