Chicken laying soft

[rosemarythyme]

Can you list many reasons why chickens lay soft eggs?

New layers, stress, poor diet, birds coming in or out of molt, defective shell gland.

List multiple ways that we can fix/help them to lay normal eggs

Supplemental calcium - this can range from as little as layer feed or oyster shells/sea shell/limestone, to direct dosing them with calcium citrate tablets. Note that if the chicken has some sort of issue causing them to be unable to properly absorb or utilize calcium, no amount of supplementing will fix it.

 

[CKfarm22]

New layers, stress, poor diet, birds coming in or out of molt, defective shell gland.

Supplemental calcium - this can range from as little as layer feed or oyster shells/sea shell/limestone, to direct dosing them with calcium citrate tablets. Note that if the chicken has some sort of issue causing them to be unable to properly absorb or utilize calcium, no amount of supplementing will fix it.

Genuine question. Doesn’t layer feed only go up to 15-16%?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Genuine question. Doesn’t layer feed only go up to 15-16%?

15-16% protein? Feather fixer is 18% I believe, could be some others with higher protein.

 

[cavemanrich]

My Alflock is 18% protein, and 2% calcium. Have been using this for ever,,, My Choice.
Since I have layers, and non layers, it is IDEAL feed, for my type of flock. I of course always offered calcium free-choice.
My chickens also get some calcium from greens they forage in my lawn during warm months. Also some from the limestone gravel that is along my driveway edging, and gravel parking spots.
They scratch everywhere, and I rarely need to trim their nails.

 

[CKfarm22]

15-16% protein? Feather fixer is 18% I believe, could be some others with higher protein.

Yes protein, i was just wondering because i posted a thread months ago asking what food and everyone told me to go for a flock raiser because there’s 20% protein in that and that layer feed isn’t good

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes protein, i was just wondering because i posted a thread months ago asking what food and everyone told me to go for a flock raiser because there’s 20% protein in that and that layer feed isn’t good

You'll get a lot of varied responses on that front, like some folks feed only layer to adults (even with roosters in the flock), others never feed layer at all.

Personally I think somewhere around 17-20% protein is good for chickens. Some people want higher protein, some are fine with less, so again you'll see a lot of variance.

What works for me is I feed both layer and grower to adult hens, and the ratio varies through the year depending on if they're actively laying, starting to slow down, or stopped altogether.

 

[ProChickens]

So my chicken lays a couple of normal eggs then went back to laying soft eggs, she roams around like all the other tickets, pecks and eats the grass, plays with the other chickens. She also has some rest time like the other chicken do also, but today I saw her on the grass and she laid a shell-less egg. What I am thinking is to put some shell grit into a separate bowl, feed them a little bit of plain yogurt (not all the time) and watch over her to see what she is doing. I will possibly also offer her a warm bath.

 

[CKfarm22]

So my chicken lays a couple of normal eggs then went back to laying soft eggs, she roams around like all the other tickets, pecks and eats the grass, plays with the other chickens. She also has some rest time like the other chicken do also, but today I saw her on the grass and she laid a shell-less egg. What I am thinking is to put some shell grit into a separate bowl, feed them a little bit of plain yogurt (not all the time) and watch over her to see what she is doing. I will possibly also offer her a warm bath.

I could be wrong but i don’t think a warm bath is going to do anything for her, probably just cause more stress.

Multiple people have told you to put the shell grit and oyster shells into a separate feeder.