3 part eggs .....

[feetrus]

Hi everyone, my 2-year old Amber Star, up until January this year has been a great layer of good eggs, she has now started laying the yolk and albumen followed by a crinkled egg sac! She is free ranging in a small garden most of the time, along with her "pal" a Light Sussex of the same age, who is proudly laying every now and again, and when they are not in the garden they are in an enclosed coop with access to oyster shell, good quality pellets, water with ACV, etc etc. The Amber Star had a bad case of worms last year and they are both regularly wormed with Flubenvet, and have a dose of Calcivet weekly. She seems happy enough, and is only stressed when she is just about to "lay". Any ideas? Was it the worm infestation??

 

[chrismahon]

Could be they have a Calcium/ Phosphorous imbalance caused by getting too much Calcium alone Feetrus. They should be on good quality feed and mixed grit, which is sufficient. The immunisation virus IB and also Mycoplasma given to hybrids can irreversibly affect egg quality I'm afraid, but the bad worms is a more likely reason everyday, although she should be free of those effects now. We don't use ACV continuously. A few days every month at 1% maximum strength should be sufficient. Worming with Flubenvet is advisory every 4 months and should be repeated after three weeks for a bad infestation. She may have a worm burden again if you didn't do that 'so I would advise treating them again anyway -Marriages layers pellets with Flubenvet premixed is the easiest way.

 

[Marigold]

Amber Stars are bred to be in continuous lay for a relatively short life span, Feetrus. If she were living in a commercial setup she would have been 'harvested', along with all her friends, at 18 months to 2 years old, when the farmer would expect egg quality and numbers to be declining, at least in enough of the birds to make the enterprise uneconomic. It's at this point that a lucky few find new homes as exbatts, some going on to lay for a while in more relaxed circumstances, though most get made into dog food etc. So actually your girl is lucky to have made it this point and beyond, even though she may be one of those who reach the 'henopause' relatively early in her life. I don't think worms are likely to be a big issue if she has been having her Flubenvet regularly, and although calcium balance may be involved, as Chris says, this is complicated in hens as calcium uptake declines in what to a hen is old age. I wonder why she got bad worms last year? Could it be that she picked up a lot of earthworms from her free ranging and ingested too many chicken worm eggs from the earthworm intermediate hosts?
My feeling is that this is more a consequence if her genetics than anything else. Egg problems are common in these kinds of hybrids, they just live life in the fast lane and delight you with daily eggs for quite a while, and then abnormalities set in, such as prolapse or thin shelled eggs or strange things like what yours is doing. I would keep a careful watch on her, in case she looks poorly. Is hunched up or immobile, and moves on to being eggbound, prolapse, or peritonitis, but as long as she seems OK, there's not much else you can do, I'm afraid.

 

[feetrus]

Thank you Chris and Marigold for your wise words! I do realise the Amber Star is a hybrid, and as you say they're egg laying machines! They're both regularly wormed with flubenvet, and she's as much distressed as I am when she lays a liquid egg, I'm keeping an eye on her, and any more distress than normal, or change in habits I will take her to my local chicken vet! They both had an enforced stay at a local farm last year whilst I was having work done on my house, and I think she came back with little friends ......as she was out n about more than the Light Sussex.... Again my thanks for your advice