Edit: *Young Pullet Laying Soft Eggs*

[Urchin]

I am currently giving them starter/grower and offering oystershell and eggshells free choice, because I have three month old pullets in the flock which can't have the layer feed. Any recommendations on how o better do this?

@Urchin What are good sources of vitamin D I can give them? Thanks!

The very best source of Vitamin D is sunlight. If your chickens can get outside for even just half an hour a day, they'll get the sunlight they need to manufacture their own D. I have three indoor hens who don't get much direct, outdoor sunlight. One of them has to be closely watched because she has pica and will literally eat anything. I have some expensive vet bills thanks to her. Keeping her away from anything she might stick in her mouth is easier to do with an indoor pen. So to make sure they do get enough Vitamin D, I give them some scrambled eggs once or twice a week as well as feeding them layer feed. I've only had a problem with vitamin D deficiency in one of them when I switched feed brands. She laid a couple of thin-shelled eggs and ended up staggering around like a drunk one evening. Two doses of three drops of Poly-Vi-Sol without iron set her straight by night the next day. I would only recommend that if a chicken shows signs of vitamin deficiency because Poly-Vi-Sol contains fat soluble vitamins which can build up the in system and cause toxicity.

 

[Catmoose1347]

The very best source of Vitamin D is sunlight.  If your chickens can get outside for even just half an hour a day, they'll get the sunlight they need to manufacture their own D.  I have three indoor hens who don't get much direct, outdoor sunlight.  One of them has to be closely watched because she has pica and will literally eat anything.  I have some expensive vet bills thanks to her.  Keeping her away from anything she might stick in her mouth is easier to do with an indoor pen.  So to make sure they do get enough Vitamin D, I give them some scrambled eggs once or twice a week as well as feeding them layer feed.  I've only had a problem with vitamin D deficiency in one of them when I switched feed brands.  She laid a couple of thin-shelled eggs and ended up staggering around like a drunk one evening.  Two doses of three drops of Poly-Vi-Sol without iron set her straight by night the next day.  I would only recommend that if a chicken shows signs of vitamin deficiency because Poly-Vi-Sol contains fat soluble vitamins which can build up the in system and cause toxicity.

They have an outdoor run and it's been sunny (a bit too much actually! It's been about 90 degrees this past week), so I think they're good with vitamin D. I've heard that eggs are really good for all sorts of things. That's why I feed them the eggs that I can't use, like broken/cracked ones and the soft eggs I've found, which they love... Haha

 

[Catmoose1347]

This evening, I looked into the nest box and found a nice puddle of yolk at the bottom. It was a joy to clean up. :/ I looked around a bit for the shell and found it a couple of feet away. I'm glad to say that it actually had a shell, though it was very thin.

Unfortunately, it is the only good thing I can say about all this... I looked at the pullet and she had yolk all over her comb. Do I have an egg eater?! Or did the egg break when she was moving it because it was so delicate? If she is breaking the eggs on purpose, will it stop when (if) the eggshells harden? I don't want this girlie to eat her eggs. I will have to get rid of her one way or another and she's the sweetest of all of them.

 

[chickenbloomers]

Unfortunately, it is the only good thing I can say about all this... I looked at the pullet and she had yolk all over her comb. Do I have an egg eater?! Or did the egg break when she was moving it because it was so delicate?

The egg probably broke because the shell was so thin and seeing that she had egg yolk on her comb she was probably the one that laid it. She most likely laid the egg and then stepped on it which broke it and she saw the egg all over her nest so she ate it. When ever my girls eggs start to get thin, they do this, just grind up some eggshell and give it to them, ( they like eggshell better then oyster shell)
I'm sure her eating the egg after it cracked is normal because after my ducks chick hatched she ate the eggshell and cow, goats cats and dogs will all eat there after birth, (we have cows and use to have goats and they all ways did this it was gross to watch.)
Shell less eggs are more likely to break when they are laying the but less likely to get stuck and not such a big deal, they usually just poop the broken egg out.

 

[Catmoose1347]

Yesterday I saw her lay a normal egg. Kinda small, but it actually had a shell. I was so relieved and thought that she was finally going to start laying normally.

Wrong. As usual. This morning when I went to let them out of the coop, I found TWO soft eggs under the roost. One was papery and the other one had a super thin shell on it. (Needless to say, they were both broken.)

What?!

I looked at threads about laying two eggs a day and found one is usually laid early in the morning and one in the late afternoon.

Now, she's going into the nesting box again and just standing there, watching everyone walk by. I am so confused!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

What if you crushed up a calcium pill and fed it to her. Soft eggs do seem harder to lay. I had a leghorn that really struggled. When she got a prolapsed vent I would try to give her extra calcium to pass the egg with the least amount of strain. (not saying your pullet will prolapse, just that it can happen)

Keep an eye on her and I hope her system evens out soon.