Hi. I have six chickens, 1 Barred Rock, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Golden Laced Wyandotte, 1 Rhode Island Red and two Ameraucanas. The last four are 7 months old, all but one has started laying, but one of them is only laying a soft, sac egg. I don't know exactly which one it is, but does this mean there is something wrong with her? The sac egg is always dropped from the roost at night. The Girls are free ranging, but always come back to the nest box to lay, and back to the hen house at dusk to roost. I feed them a full lay feed, plus give them crushed oyster shell. What else should I be doing? Thanks, Shell Shocked in Oregon
Shelless eggs are not uncommon in a new layer. It sounds like everything else is in place (proper feed, oyster shell, etc) so I would just give it time and I'm sure you will find that she is laying normal eggs very soon. A new reproductive system sometimes has a few hiccups before it settles out into normal functioning.
Some quick questions: How long has she been laying? And long has she been laying eggs like this? And how frequently does she lay? Shell less eggs are usually caused by either improper diet, environmental extremes, stress, disease or parasites like worms. Is any one of them acting strange? Shown any sign of disease? Have you dewormed them and dusted for mites? It sounds like they are getting the nutrition they need, so my guess would be that either she's still practising, or she may be sick, or she may have gotten a fright and the stress messed with her reproductive system. (One of my hens laid a "water balloon" complete with a 'string" attached once after she got a big fright the day before.) Otherwise it could be that she's having trouble absorbing the calcium in her food. It does happen sometimes with hens.
