Soft shell?

[Thebernards]

One of my girls laid a soft shell egg for the first time. It was almost half the egg!! I've never seen anything like it before! I think it's this ones first egg. Is this normal for first time egg layers? Is there something I can do to help prevent this? I supply grit, oyster shells, pellet feed and they free range daily.

 

[SueT]

Yes, normal for first few eggs...

 

[Thebernards]

Why would one chicken do a soft shell egg but the rest of the flock not for their first? How long will the problem last? It's not painful for her is it??

 

[SueT]

It can take a little while for things to get working properly. I had one out of my 4 that laid a few soft eggs at first. Soft shell eggs can also be because of stress. One night last week, we had a whopper of a storm blow through with 60 mph winds, lightning, buckets of rain, ---and in the morning, two soft shell eggs were found under the roost. It scared the eggs right out of them before they had time to form the shells properly! Other times the stress is less obvious. I wouldn't worry about nutrition yet, since you are feeding layer feed and oyster shell, give her time.

 

[Thebernards]

I don't know about any obvious stress. Hopefully this passes soon and she is a happier layer.