Check out the soft shell top of these eggs!

[Vickery]

My girls have access to oyster shell and are on layer feed. They are approx. 16 month old and seem healthy. The one that I think is laying these eggs is a RIR. I get one of these anomalies a day generally. The biggest problem as I sort this out is that I now have egg eaters because I believe they are easily broken. Any ideas fellow chicken lovers?
Thank you. Vickery.

 

[iwiw60]

First...your hens are very young layers...very young. You can expect unusual eggs til their systems kind of get things "sorted out". You might even get completely soft-shelled eggs, or even eggs with no shell! Things will smooth out as they age.

Are you SURE you have egg-eaters? If so, you should definitely be collecting eggs several times a day so they don't have the opportunity.

Best of luck!

 

[farnorth]

First...your hens are very young layers...very young. You can expect unusual eggs til their systems kind of get things "sorted out". You might even get completely soft-shelled eggs, or even eggs with no shell! Things will smooth out as they age.

Are you SURE you have egg-eaters? If so, you should definitely be collecting eggs several times a day so they don't have the opportunity.

Best of luck!

Just curious why you would consider 16 month old hens to be "very young" layers ? at 16 months they should be a year or more into laying.

 

[mortie]

I think iwiw thought you meant 16 weeks.

 

[Vickery]

Yes...they have been laying 11+ months (started right @ 20 weeks). I appreciate your responses. I do check frequently as I know I may have a problem here. Thanks all. Vickery

 

[farnorth]

If you are finding one a day it's probably just one hen. Maybe figure out which one it is and go from there.

 

[Vickery]

yes I was thinking that iwiw60 thought weeks too!

 

[iwiw60]

yes I was thinking that iwiw60 thought weeks too!

Yep...my bad!!