Anyone seen these laying problems?

[aidan47]

1) Barred rock, 7 months old. Almost all of her eggs are soft-shelled and laid overnight from the roost where they fall, and we find them cracked in the morning. We know it's her because my family's new to having chickens so we always look at who's in the nest box, and in total, we've gotten 2 normal eggs from her over the 2 months she's been laying.

2) Minorca, same age, and was laying normally, until around 2-3 weeks ago she just stopped. She doesn't act any differently than she used to. There's not much else to the story, but has anyone else had this happen? She was the only white egg layer until 2 days ago our leghorn laid her first, so we could tell none of the eggs we found were hers.

We got them as chicks along with 4 other hens, and the others are laying regularly and normally. They all eat the same food and oyster shells, and these two don't seem to be acting weirdly. Has anyone had these problems? What did you do? I know they're young hens so will these problems just fix themselves with age? Thank you for your help.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Are you offering calcium? I have a hen very sensitive to calcium deficincies and ahe does what your barred rock does if she misses her needs

 

[rosemarythyme]

Have you actually seen the BR eating oyster shell? Some birds may not want to eat it.

Young layers can be glitchy and inconsistent, so possibly the Minorca will get on a steadier schedule over time.

 

[Mistycarmony84]

Our girls when they started laying did the same thing. It takes them many months after laying their first egg to get on a regular schedule. Just make sure they get enough calcium and they are getting enough to eat and plenty of water.