Hi guys. One of my little girls(not sure which one) has layed a shell-less egg. Is this normal? Should I be worried? And what can I do if there is an issue?
Chicken layed shell-less egg. Help?
- Thread starter chickenlover432
- Start date
It's normal if it's an occasional thing, rather than all the time.
It's also normal if it is a 'new' laying hen who is still trying to iron out the kinks in the egg-production factory.
But if it's a hen who has been laying a while, and all of a sudden she starts laying soft shelled or shell-less eggs all the time, it may be a concern.
If that is the case, make sure you supply a good quality layer feed and some oyster shell, as well as grit.
If the problem escalates, you can also buy a calcium supplement to add to their food or water, but I stress that is only if they are consistently laying bad eggs.
Otherwise, if it doesn't happen very often, I would just remove them from the nests and throw them away - the eggs, not the chickens! - if you leave them in the coop you risk the girls trying to eat them, and the last thing you want is for them to develop a taste for eggs.....
Krista
It's also normal if it is a 'new' laying hen who is still trying to iron out the kinks in the egg-production factory.
But if it's a hen who has been laying a while, and all of a sudden she starts laying soft shelled or shell-less eggs all the time, it may be a concern.
If that is the case, make sure you supply a good quality layer feed and some oyster shell, as well as grit.
If the problem escalates, you can also buy a calcium supplement to add to their food or water, but I stress that is only if they are consistently laying bad eggs.
Otherwise, if it doesn't happen very often, I would just remove them from the nests and throw them away - the eggs, not the chickens! - if you leave them in the coop you risk the girls trying to eat them, and the last thing you want is for them to develop a taste for eggs.....
Krista
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- Thread starter
- #3
Thanks!! I've started giving her a mash with shells in it. She is a new layer and this is the first time it's happened. Thank you for responding, I'm glad it's nothing serious!
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Just offer the shells(oyster shell and/or dried crushed chicken egg shells) in a separate container, she will eat what she needs.
- Thread starter
- #5
This is the second time it's happened. This time there was a shell but it was so light it's split open. When will this stop happening? I'm feeding them crushed egg shells in their mash...
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- Mar 5, 2014
- 7
- 1
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I have had 5 no shell "squishy" eggs, as my kids call them. I added oyster shell to their food about a week and a half ago. But had two more this week. We don't know which girl it is though. They free range all day. They have only been laying about 2 months. Hopefully ours will get better too.
When I spoke to my vet about this he told me that despite offering a quality feed and oyster shell to my chickens, there are some hens who simply require additional support as far as calcium is concerned. After getting 2 soft shelled eggs each day (from two different chickens, of course) I put all the girls onto a Calcium/Vitamin supplement that was mixed into their feed ration. It's been two weeks now and I have not had a single soft shelled egg in the last six days, which (to me) is a massive improvement. I guess that is always an option, but I wouldn't recommend it if you only get the occasional soft shelled egg - that is particularly common in new layers, and should sort itself out in time.
I have also read several times that some vegetables and feeds can actually inhibit the absorption of Vitamin D and Calcium in chickens. Vitamin D is important as it enables the body to absorb the Calcium when it is consumed, rather than having it pass through the hen. One such food is spinach - and true to form, I found that the more spinach I fed my girls the worse their egg-shell quality became. Another issue is when you allow free access to grain as the main feed source, rather than a formulated layer's pellet. Grain does not contain enough Calcium in it's own right, and despite leaving free access to oyster shell, many chickens simply don't/won't eat it, thereby resulting in a calcium deficiency and subsequent soft-shelled eggs.
Something to think about anyway! As you can see, I did a lot of reading trying to resolve this issue myself
Krista
I have also read several times that some vegetables and feeds can actually inhibit the absorption of Vitamin D and Calcium in chickens. Vitamin D is important as it enables the body to absorb the Calcium when it is consumed, rather than having it pass through the hen. One such food is spinach - and true to form, I found that the more spinach I fed my girls the worse their egg-shell quality became. Another issue is when you allow free access to grain as the main feed source, rather than a formulated layer's pellet. Grain does not contain enough Calcium in it's own right, and despite leaving free access to oyster shell, many chickens simply don't/won't eat it, thereby resulting in a calcium deficiency and subsequent soft-shelled eggs.
Something to think about anyway! As you can see, I did a lot of reading trying to resolve this issue myself
Krista
I just found this article, searching for something else, that has a great rundown on calcium in chickens.
The author is a avian vet that has backyard as well as commercial chicken experience.
The author is a avian vet that has backyard as well as commercial chicken experience.
- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks for that!! It was very interesting. Do you know how long do they lay the soft or no shelled eggs?
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