California - Northern

[lawatt]

The top dark egg is from a Partridge Penedesenca. The Blue one on the top right is a Dorking X Wheaten AM. The big speckled one is from my Blue Marans. The Green ones and the turquoise blue one are from my OEs. Oddly, one of the Cream Legbar X Crele Penes lays a Glossy blue egg! I bet it is the one with the black crest.

The other eggs are from Dorking crosses, HRIRs, Partridge Rocks and Hatchery reds. The big brown one on the bottom right is from my Golden comet--she lays the most amazing eggs!

such gorgeous eggs, Ron -- and those australorps! huge!! and hooray for the box from megan!!!

this past week i've been finding the remains of a soft-shelled egg on the floor of the henhouse -- was concerned that it was being laid & then eaten by the girls, so when i heard an egg song at 5am this morning before it was even light, i went down to the coop & found the third or fourth (? -- haven't been keeping careful count) soft-shelled egg in a row on the coop floor directly beneath one of the two Amelias (CL/pene cross) -- intact except "broken" by the fall from the perch, so no one had nibbled on it (they were all still up on their perches anyway). it didn't feel warm, so she may have laid it at some point during the night -- which seems extra-strange!

not sure what could be causing this, as they all eat layer feed with calcium (although they've all been snacking on the chicks' food lately, so probably eating less of their own), plus have oystershell available at all times, get yogurt now and then, etc. -- and she seems otherwise very healthy. has anyone else seen soft-shelled eggs "laid" from the perch overnight, and anything i should do to get her back to normal?

 

[lizanne]

Hi Peeps!

It was a busy and hot day here but my Hens worked overtime today:



So many pretty eggs! They must love me....

oh, I guess I must love them.....

I love that egg basket!! And all your eggs! I'm only getting like 4 eggs a day now...

. I started with 12 laying hens at the beginning of the year. I sold 3 little D'uccle's first, because I had way to many eggs, and I wanted to make room for new chickens. Then I sold my 2 Silkies last weekend, to an older couple that wanted a couple of pets (they were broody ALL the time). So that left me with 7 hens and 2 of my OE's have been broody for over a month. I haven't bought eggs in over a year, the little layers girls are 15 weeks old so hopefully they will start before too long.

I took some pictures of my Blue Australorps today. Two of them are Blue, one Cockerel and one pullet. Chet Hupp said that out of 4 pens and 39 hatched chicks he had one splash pullet and one blue pullet. With mine, I have a Blue pullet and a blue cockerel....

They are monsters at 8 weeks old!

Those blue's are so pretty!! I've been looking at some eggs in the BST section for a while now. I think I might need some!!

 

[Miss Molly]

When my Granny turned 100 I asked her "Granny, how did you live to be 100" she said "Pammie, I laughed all the way!" It really simple advice....laugh...keep breathing...

Great advice! Live, laugh, & Love

 

[Happy Chooks]

That is the oddest thing. I've never seen that either. As long as the top and bottom beak are aligned, she should be able to eat/drink/defend herself, so I wouldn't worry about it. I find it odd that the comb is correctly aligned on her head though.

Definitely don't use her in any kind of a breeding program though. But she should live a normal life otherwise.

So strange! And I agree with Deb.

I took some pictures of my Blue Australorps today. Two of them are Blue, one Cockerel and one pullet. Chet Hupp said that out of 4 pens and 39 hatched chicks he had one splash pullet and one blue pullet. With mine, I have a Blue pullet and a blue cockerel....

They are monsters at 8 weeks old!

Those are gonna be some large birds! They are beautiful!

such gorgeous eggs, Ron -- and those australorps! huge!! and hooray for the box from megan!!!

this past week i've been finding the remains of a soft-shelled egg on the floor of the henhouse -- was concerned that it was being laid & then eaten by the girls, so when i heard an egg song at 5am this morning before it was even light, i went down to the coop & found the third or fourth (? -- haven't been keeping careful count) soft-shelled egg in a row on the coop floor directly beneath one of the two Amelias (CL/pene cross) -- intact except "broken" by the fall from the perch, so no one had nibbled on it (they were all still up on their perches anyway). it didn't feel warm, so she may have laid it at some point during the night -- which seems extra-strange!

not sure what could be causing this, as they all eat layer feed with calcium (although they've all been snacking on the chicks' food lately, so probably eating less of their own), plus have oystershell available at all times, get yogurt now and then, etc. -- and she seems otherwise very healthy. has anyone else seen soft-shelled eggs "laid" from the perch overnight, and anything i should do to get her back to normal?

How old is your hen? I was having this issue with an older hen. I read it can be a vitamin deficiency. I put the whole flock on vitamins. Didn't notice a change, but continued with the vitamins. Then, I was mixing Flockraiser and layer feed, so when I refilled it, I put pure Flockraiser in the feeder. I'm now getting eggs with a shell. Not a super hard shell, but not one that can easily be broken either.

 

[Hangtown Farms]

Thank you Molly!

Welcome back to the thread!

Megan sent me a Package today:



I have 9 Pita Pinta and 2 EO marraduna Basgue eggs in the Brinsea!

great. can not wait to order mine. I just hatched a chick from a egg my empordanesa hen was sitting on. I put all the eggs she had in the old bator. 1 has hatched. she still thinks she has eggs so I may put a few back under her.
This is a olive egger. anyone need a free olive egger? looks blue like her momma the blue ameraucana

I took some pictures of my Blue Australorps today. Two of them are Blue, one Cockerel and one pullet. Chet Hupp said that out of 4 pens and 39 hatched chicks he had one splash pullet and one blue pullet. With mine, I have a Blue pullet and a blue cockerel....

They are monsters at 8 weeks old!

they are getting huge. Ron can you post pictures of the black penedesenca hen you have? trying to compare to mine

 

[Hangtown Farms]

I have to go catch 8 young cockerels. I have someone taking them all. yeah. I actually dont think they are going to eat them. They let them free range as bug control in there pasture in a mobile coop. may not last too long but hey better than the alternative lol

 

[lawatt]

How old is your hen? I was having this issue with an older hen. I read it can be a vitamin deficiency. I put the whole flock on vitamins. Didn't notice a change, but continued with the vitamins. Then, I was mixing Flockraiser and layer feed, so when I refilled it, I put pure Flockraiser in the feeder. I'm now getting eggs with a shell. Not a super hard shell, but not one that can easily be broken either.

Ron would know the exact age (i got the two amelias from him), but i think about 8-9 months? she and her sister both laid their first eggs in mid-april, then stopped laying at all for quite a while, around the same time the other chickens started getting really broody/hatching chicks -- but neither of these went broody themselves, they just seemed upset by all the changes? now things are quieting down again, and Amelia #1 is definitely laying again, perfectly normal eggs (if more green & less olive than when she started) -- but Amelia #2 seems to only be producing these soft-shelled ones, all "laid" while roosting at night!

 

[HighNDryFarm]

such gorgeous eggs, Ron -- and those australorps! huge!! and hooray for the box from megan!!!

this past week i've been finding the remains of a soft-shelled egg on the floor of the henhouse -- was concerned that it was being laid & then eaten by the girls, so when i heard an egg song at 5am this morning before it was even light, i went down to the coop & found the third or fourth (? -- haven't been keeping careful count) soft-shelled egg in a row on the coop floor directly beneath one of the two Amelias (CL/pene cross) -- intact except "broken" by the fall from the perch, so no one had nibbled on it (they were all still up on their perches anyway). it didn't feel warm, so she may have laid it at some point during the night -- which seems extra-strange!

not sure what could be causing this, as they all eat layer feed with calcium (although they've all been snacking on the chicks' food lately, so probably eating less of their own), plus have oystershell available at all times, get yogurt now and then, etc. -- and she seems otherwise very healthy. has anyone else seen soft-shelled eggs "laid" from the perch overnight, and anything i should do to get her back to normal?

They only time I had a shelless egg was after a predator attack. She was next to chicken that was killed and was never the same. Laid eggs without a shell, wouldn't come out of the coop without me and if I took her all the way out and left her she'd go off and hide and I'd have to search for her each night. After a couple weeks of this I couldn't find her.

 

[ronott1]

Ron would know the exact age (i got the two amelias from him), but i think about 8-9 months? she and her sister both laid their first eggs in mid-april, then stopped laying at all for quite a while, around the same time the other chickens started getting really broody/hatching chicks -- but neither of these went broody themselves, they just seemed upset by all the changes? now things are quieting down again, and Amelia #1 is definitely laying again, perfectly normal eggs (if more green & less olive than when she started) -- but Amelia #2 seems to only be producing these soft-shelled ones, all "laid" while roosting at night!

The Amelias are 8 months old so it could be a new layer problem, especially if they took a break. Are the eggs bigger? Mine lay about 46 Gram eggs.

I was having some soft shelled eggs and mine get layer and have free choice calcium. I gave them some grit, which seems like they would not need because they are outside and should get grit from the dirt. Apparently they were not getting enough because the eggs are back to normal now.

Two times a week put a bit(1/3 cup per feeder) of Food grade DE into the feed and give them some grit 2 or 3 times a week. It is getting hot, so some type of electrolyte vitamin supplement might help too. Once a week or so should do it.

I have 5 Amelias and get from 4 to 5 eggs a day from them.

 

[lawatt]

The Amelias are 8 months old so it could be a new layer problem, especially if they took a break. Are the eggs bigger? Mine lay about 46 Gram eggs.

I was having some soft shelled eggs and mine get layer and have free choice calcium. I gave them some grit, which seems like they would not need because they are outside and should get grit from the dirt. Apparently they were not getting enough because the eggs are back to normal now.

Two times a week put a bit(1/3 cup per feeder) of Food grade DE into the feed and give them some grit 2 or 4 times a week. It is getting hot, so some type of electrolyte vitamin supplement might help too. Once a week or so should do it.

I have 5 Amelias and get from 4 to 5 eggs a day from them.

thanks Ron! it hasn't been quite as hot here yet as you're probably getting, only into the 80s -- and i don't have a scale for eggs, nor would have been able to weigh any of these soft-shelled ones, since she keeps laying them while on her perch, they break open when they fall (hence also can't quite tell the size, but it seems fairly normal-sized?). now that classes are out, they also are free-ranging most of each day, so it's harder to tell how much of which feeder they are eating from -- but i'll do what i can to get more grit/calcium into her!

for what it's worth, the amelias, plus Lucy the CL, have become Max's favorites -- they hang out with him ALL the time, and when i checked them all early this morning, all three of them were cozied up to him on his perch... very cute. here he is with Amelia #2 (the one having the egg trouble) and Lucy: