Are my two Black Australorps ever going to lay normal eggs?

[digitS']

The only soft shelled eggs I've had from my current Aussies were the first 3 eggs layed by a hen that went broody this year.

One was layed from the roost. The second was layed outdoors. (I could tell that something was wrong with Olivia that day. All of a sudden, there was an egg - sunny side up!)

The 3rd egg was so thin it broke when I picked it up from the nest. After these 3, Olivia was back to laying a normal egg.

Steve

 

[emay4short]

Thanks Steve,
I'm sure my 2 girls have no idea what is going on in their bodies. I hope I can help out during this adjustment period with the best diet and of course love.
I can just here them talking "hey what was that thing that just popped out my back-side??? Bawk-bawk!"

 

[feathersnuggles]

You gotta give the beginning layer some time to get it right, I'm finding out. I have a 23-24 week old flock, with only 1 layer so far. At 19 weeks old she started laying beautiful hard shelled (mostly double yolker) eggs. About 2 weeks later, from the roost at night, she began dropping partially shelled or no shell eggs, 2 at a time. I cleaned up a filthy gooey mess for about 5 days. In between roost-eggs, she would, in the nest, lay tiny freaky wrinkled thin-shelled eggs with uncharacteristic color and shape. It was all so weird, at first I figured she had actually stopped laying and that another bird was responsible for the strange eggs -- until I caught her in the act of laying one of those bizarre ones, LOL. And I started paying attention to her position on the roost at night. Her strange eggs lasted a little over a week, then she went back to laying good hard eggs in the nest, like nothing had ever happened. Knock on wood - she's doing okay.

I agree with digitS' that they are NOT choosing to lay from the roost. My girl was inadvertently dropping partially formed eggs, along with her poo at night. I'm a novice at this chicken business, but it struck me that from the time she started laying, she has had a LOT of double yolks. Perhaps her body, early on, has been regularly shedding two yolks instead of one yolk per interval. And, her "mechanisms" may have been trying to properly put each individual yolk into its own separate shell, instead of surrounding both yolks with a single shell, like at first. If that was the case, I'd guess that two eggs with shells was getting too complicated or too large for her system and she dumped both eggs from the roost, when they were only partially finished. It's just a guess.

As far as shells go, I offer free choice oyster shell and yogurt twice a week, plus a small amount ACV in water. Sometimes I also add some cod liver oil (once a week) to a treat for the entire flock, so that they get enough Vit. D here in the PNW. Vitamin D is necessary for calcium absorption - enough exposure to sunlight should give adequate Vit. D. Now I'm curious about my BA and how thick her shells will be... whenever she starts laying, that is.

 

[emay4short]

thanks Feathersnuggles,
I wonder if the 2 jelly eggs where from the same chickie. This is so fascinating. Every thing you said makes so much sense. I've got the 2 at time jellies happening three times now. The hens first egg was a double yolk w/ normal shell so she could be the haywire-hen. Maybe my other BA hasn't lain yet.
I'm so grateful for all this wonderful support and advice.

 

[feathersnuggles]

I forgot to say Welcome!

And when you get a chance, check out the Washingtonians thread under "Where am I? Where are you?"