Of my nine hens I am getting 5 eggs a day now. They have are around 24 weeks or so. I bought them a month ago. Today I let them out to free range for an hour or so while I was out working in the yard. I saw one in the weeds acting funny so I went over and sure enough she laid an egg. I waited about 5 minutes and went to pick it up and it was pretty soft. Not like jello but definitely not as hard as normal. I am assuming a "normal" egg is pretty hard after it has been laid? I went ahead and pitched that one over the fence and when I turned around there was another very soft egg in the yard 10 feet from where the first one. I didn't see who laid that one but a couple of the other hens came over and started pecking at that one. They were eating it before I could pick it up. I went a picked up the shell from that one and it was like rubber and fell apart. I know when pullets first start laying their eggs are not always perfect. I have not had one single soft egg (that I have seen evidence of) in the coop. I guess it is possible if this has been going on they are eating it before I found them??? I have been planning to build a feeder for them to keep oyster shells in but have not gotten around to it. I have been putting a couple of handfuls of oyster shells in the coop on the feeder that I have grit in every few days or so as needed. I know typically you don't get two normal eggs in a day but the odds of two different birds laying to very soft eggs a few feet from each other at the same time seem pretty slim also. Not sure what to make of it. Both eggs appeared to have a normal yolk inside and were normal size just very soft.
Short of some type of video system is there anything I should look for as far as evidence that one or more of them is laying soft eggs which are then being eaten?
Short of some type of video system is there anything I should look for as far as evidence that one or more of them is laying soft eggs which are then being eaten?