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Extremely soft egg?

post #1 of 8
7/17/12 at 12:21pm
Thread Starter 

I just went out to collect eggs for the day. I found two in the nesting boxes, and for some reason I looked up to their roost and seen somethng that looked like an egg. I reached up and gently grabbed it and its a very, very, very soft egd with a slit in it... I provide oyster shells and grit to my chickens, but yet this egg is extremely soft? Is it something else? All my other eggs have not been soft at all. Even the first eggs they laid.

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post #2 of 8
7/17/12 at 12:50pm
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IMG00939-20120717-1431.jpg

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post #3 of 8
7/17/12 at 1:29pm

I too let them free choice on oyster shell & grit (dirt /sand & diatamatious earth).Try to identfy which hen is laying  soft eggs and give her  a special treat a few times a week. I give my girls a little plain yougert ,kale,cheese,beans and rice, whatever i have extra of that is nutricious,low fat and on sale. 

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post #4 of 8
7/17/12 at 5:10pm
Thread Starter 

Will that help in the soft egg laying? I know which one it can't be, but I still have three others to figure out which is laying it... I know an egg from todays ago kind of had a bottom that wasn't formed completely right, could it have been that same chicken?

 

While we are at it, is corn okay for chickens to have? I've given them a cob or two (cooked) and they love it, they gobble it up within seconds and leave nothing but the cob left. Could that be  reason there is a soft egg now?

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post #5 of 8
7/17/12 at 5:20pm

I have had a hen lay an egg without a shell when she first started laying.  Also happened after the trauma of an attack by a possum.  She wasn't the one bitten but the trauma of it all caused her lay soft eggs for a few days.  Have you changed their feed?

Aspiring Urban Homesteader with 2 BR, 1 Golden Comet, and 1 Buff Orphington.

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Aspiring Urban Homesteader with 2 BR, 1 Golden Comet, and 1 Buff Orphington.

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post #6 of 8
7/17/12 at 5:22pm
my chickens diet is mostly layer feed and corn. (cracked or on the cob usually) and theve been getting into our fresh garden cucumbers everyday. theyre eggs are always hard as rocks. and we cracked the 4th one ever laid today and it was a double yolk! hope this helps...
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post #7 of 8
7/17/12 at 7:36pm

It happens sometimes for no reason.  Are they nearing the end of their first year of lay?

I don't get better with age, only more confused(ing).

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I don't get better with age, only more confused(ing).

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post #8 of 8
8/25/12 at 7:21pm

You might give them some Oyster shell.  Mine also get a little Apple Cider Vinegar once a month when I think about it.  Mine are all Free Range all day long and I can't always know what they might be getting into...the other day they ran to the tank..(large pond)  found them chasing frogs.  Anyway the Apple Cider Vinegar kills internal parasites, helps their respiratory, Immune, and helps them use calcium better....It also makes their feathers shine!  I use Braggs and they love it.  Sometimes they drink a puddle after the rain and it is hard telling what might be in it...so it is a very good thing to do....keeps your birds clean on the inside so they thrive.   Check out Apple Cider Vinegar in Chickens and see all the good things it can do.  Works on our pup as well.
 

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