Laying an egg without a shell?

[YardBirdCountry]

Yesterday I noticed, for the second time, one of my birds laid an egg without a shell (or more accurately, missing most of the shell and being mostly just membrane). It's the strangest thing. I took a picture of the first one. Other than this, production has been pretty good.

Anyone else ever had this problem?

 

[CountryGeorge]

I am not into eggs in any kind of a commercial sense, as a matter of fact I give excess away rather than sell them. My ladies are just coming up on two years old in April and they will be with me until they die of old age. They are pets much more than egg producing machines and I certainly don't begrudge the sack of grain I get them each month, the fifteen bucks or so is worth the enjoyment I get from watching the flock.

 

[LTygress]

That's kinda mean.. No offence. I am just an animal rights activist so, I do not think that is funny...

Humans are omnivores by nature. Wolves are carnivores. They attack, kill, and eat animals by nature. Its not pretty. Its nature. Dogs are descendants of wolves.

I'm not saying I'm one to throw a chicken to a dog and watch it suffer. My chickens are my pets. But you have to respect the fact that some people prefer to remain as natural as possible, even when it comes to feeding a dog.

Respecting DIFFERENCES in people around us, will lead to a much happier life, than getting all of THEM to respect the fact that you found something offensive.

 

[Andiexb]

Roses are red, violets are blue. If chickens don't lay, they become stew.... Or dog food lol

 

[LukensFarms]

The largest reason for soft shelled eggs is a lack of calcium in the diet. My first question would be are the chickens being fed a layer ration or some sort or grain. A layer ration is high in calcium which helps prevent this problem. You can also buy Oystershell, which will also help reduce a softshell problem. Or pour some milk on their grain so their calcium can be increased, but you really should get calcium in their diet promptly.

 

[Beekissed]

By this point in the thread you all should be asking how so many people describe a similar problem at the same time. A little research can show you that many people are experiencing similar egg laying issues just like this. Is it reasonable to expect that everyone out there has chickens that have/are:

1. Diets deficient in calcium
2. Over stressed
3. Defective shell glands
4. Suddenly cannibalistic

If not, then you could possibly deduce that this is a common problem that is most likely not caused by any of these problems but is just a common symptom of this time of year...as it is every year. And you will see many, many posts of this kind with helpful tips to increase calcium, protein, etc. and to bait eggs to "break an egg eater" or even advice to kill the dreaded "egg eater" as they simply cannot be broken.

Here's a tip....every year, twice a year, there are times when the egg laying gets a little freaky, with shell-less eggs, thin shells, easily broken eggs, double yolkers, eggs without yolks, etc. Simultaneously, you will also hear about "egg eaters" who are helping themselves to this bounty...news flash: All chickens eat eggs. It's a natural instinct on their part to keep nests clean and also because they are opportunistic eaters, so when they climb into a nest where an egg has been broken, they will eat it. It's normal and natural and happens at this time of the year and again at the molt in July/August/Sept. They will not continue to be egg eaters from now on, you do not need to somehow "break" them of it, it was not caused by feeding their own shells back to them or any other such nonsense.

This is not diet related. It's not a behavior that needs to be managed. It's a natural phenomenon that occurs when reproductive systems of chickens are either coming into higher production or moving from higher production into a decline in production. It's dictated by hormones and it only lasts a little while. How long it lasts is individual to the bird but it's pretty much a couple of weeks, on average. Older birds will have more issues than will younger, in their prime hens, and new pullets also have weirdness when they first start to lay. When a broody goes back to laying she can have similar issues.

How to make it stop? Patience and allowing nature to take its course. That's all.

 

[YardBirdCountry]

Got another soft egg this morning. Funny thing is that I know these birds have all laid good eggs before... have six birds and a while back I was getting 4-6 good eggs a day. Now I'm getting 3 good eggs and one soft egg.

If I had a bird eating eggs... well lets just say I saw this re-run of Alton Brown's show a few days ago...

 

[crazypoultrychx]

Animalfarmer what exactly do you mean by "fed to the dogs"? I would certainly hope you humanely kill them first.

um........yeah........thats what animalfarmer ment.........humanely ment to lop off their head and feed it to the dogs......sometimes you new peeps get too silly!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Hi Beekissed,
what you say makes sense, but how come when I posted the question about what causes shellless eggs 950 people wrote bck to tell me that my birds were getting too much scratch (50/50) and that if I didn't do something soon they would die from calcium deficiency...This is why i researched calcium deficiency and how vitamin D helps calcium absorption. Its true here in WA we dont get enough sun and maybe that coupled with bad diet could have contributed. So yes I hit the panic button. And whether it was that or as you say nature taking its course the girls are laying fine now havent had a bad egg since, where they were having them every four days for a month at least. Also my girls were hatchery quality so i was told that could play a part too...theres just so much difference in opinionand i am so scared todo something wrong and wind up losing a bird. mind you i do wonder why my other four hens do fine and one has eggs with shells so thick that my husband jokes shes shitting bricks and he feels sorry if a chick ever has to try to break that shell cuz it wont . I keep asking myself how could one chicken have so much trouble? But I love her and am trying to do right with her. Oh and I wasnt giving them oyster shell regularly. since then i strted. didn't realize how important it was.

Because every person on here who has had chickens for a couple of years and has read Storey's Guide to chickens is an expert on chickens...that's how come.

If all your chickens are laying thin shelled eggs and this goes on for some time, you have a flock problem and maybe need to adjust your nutrition. If you have one or two doing it but the rest are fine on the nutrition you are providing, then you have a bird problem. Keep that in mind for the future. You don't adjust your whole flock nutrition or shift your paradigm for just a few birds if the majority are doing fine on your methods. I've fed 50/50 whole grain and layer ration every winter for several years and never had a calcium deficiency...and never gave oyster shell and never had shell problems(except for a few birds, twice a year...as per normal) and have had all hatchery sourced birds.

It's not the diet, it's not the bird source and it's not a calcium deficiency if you are feeding at least half layer ration. At this time of year you can nudge that up to 100% layer as they are coming into a peak laying season and will need all that nutrition if they are laying.

I'm going to ease your fears of losing a bird...you will eventually lose a bird. Chickens die for all sorts of reasons and sometimes you never know why and there's not a thing you could have done. It just happens. It WILL happen. So, don't worry about doing something wrong....you'll be an expert at it in a couple of years and be telling folks how to raise chickens!

Green grass, sunshine, fresh water, fresh air, clean soils underfoot and a layer ration and you'll do fine, no worries! Any ol' hillbilly can raise chickens and you can too.

 

[keckhart]

Animalfarmer what exactly do you mean by "fed to the dogs"? I would certainly hope you humanely kill them first.