Causes of the Rubber EGG?????????????

[chickenmomva]

Rubber egg I mean squishy and not hard shell. I assume it is a calcium thing lack of I mean.........it is the 3rd one I have found in the laying boxes in 3 days.........what do I need to do ??????

we feed laying mash with oyster shells mixed in and we also have a free choice oyster shell set up too.......the girls have just started laying in the last 3 weeks

 

[cheapcheap_jeepjeep]

How old are they? I have never had to deal with this yet, but it could be an age thing.

Sorry I am not more help.

 

[MarkR]

Age and nutrition are the biggies. Could be a couple of bugs (not insects, germs). Sounds like you have nutrition covered. If they aren't too old, maybe take a fecal to the vet and see what's what.

Mark

 

[chickenmomva]

all my chickens that are laying now are 24-25 weeks old.........I am not sure if the vet here does that sort of thing with the fecal test ......everything looks ok as far as that goes nothing different it all looks the same.........

I found the 1st one on the ground and the 2nd in the coop on the floor......I assumed it was one of the 22 week old girls and it was her 1st egg b/c of where I found them.......then I found the 3rd in the nest box so I am not sure what to think.......

and I will add that I dont know which girl it is that is laying this crazy egg

 

[kico166]

I'm not sure if this will help, but ...

my girls did that a few times when they first started laying (last fall).
I was thinking it was part of 'getting started'. I believe you stated your girls had just started laying 3 weeks ago?

There's some really interesting information on eggs at the American Egg Board. The following is from their website:

Shell strength is greatly influenced by the minerals and vitamins in the hen's diet, particularly calcium, phosphorus, manganese and Vitamin D. If the diet is deficient in calcium, for instance, the hen will produce a thin or soft-shelled egg or possibly an egg with no shell at all. Occasionally an egg may be prematurely expelled from the uterus due to injury or excitement. In this case, the shell has not had time to be completely formed. Shell thickness is also related to egg size which, in turn, is related to the hen's age. As the hen ages, egg size increases. The same amount of shell material which covers a smaller egg must be "stretched" to cover a larger one, hence the shell is thinner. The web address is: http://www.aeb.org/LearnMore/EggFacts.htm

I wouldn't get too excited yet - it looks like your feeding appropriately - my girls also get egg mash and free feed oyster shells. Hope this helps!

 

[ella]

I had a round of soft egg laying when I seperated my flock for breeding. I assumed it was stress. It lasted about a week, got about 5 soft eggs from the 20 hens and then it quit, they've been fine since.

If they're just begining to lay, I'd bet that's what's going on. They'll settle down soon enough.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Is this a proer egg with a "normal"yolk and egg white just without a hard shel...if so then it is called a "shell less egg" ... if not (so the contents are also "weird" and rubbery then this can be caused by oviduct inflammation...sloughing off a bit and then the reproductive tract treating it as though is is an egg...happens also with and internal or false layer.

 

[JillsChicks]

I agree that stress can cause rubber eggs. Last summer I borrowed two hens from my girlfriend for a week - I had cousins coming from the city and my farm didn't feel complete without chickens. Well, the first day they laid the eggs were soft. We had been taken from their home and moved them to a strange farm - I imagine that's what did it given the fact that I was feeding them their regular feed and oyster shells. After that, all the eggs were perfect. And what fun it was watching the hens enjoying relaxing rides on the swings on my children's laps! They would also try to hide eggs under tarps covering hay bales; little chicken heads would poke up now and again throught the holes in the tarp. Ann

 

[chickenmomva]

Thanks for all the good word and advice.........we have only had a few more here and there since it started and yes the eggs are normal on the inside from what I can tell .........the last egg that was soft was on the ground and busted and it was ok otherwise.......I am pretty sure it is one of the girls that is getting ready to start or just started laying......we moved the free choice alittle and made sure it full all the time and I added some oyster shell alittle to the food...........