Chickens laying (and possibly pooping) soft eggs

[Kleighm]

Good morning,

Coming to you with some soft shelled eggs being layed under the roost bars - and potentially one this morning that was passed with droppings? (Photos included).

My girls are about 6 months old and 6 or 7 out of 11 have been laying since mid November, always in the nesting boxes, no egg issues. Early this week I started finding eggs in the run. I figured it was a new layer, not sure where to go.

Then yesterday I found an egg on the floor in the coop, and two eggs under the roost bar - all with shells, but not nearly as thick and hardy as usual. I thought maybe they had seen the run-layer lay her egg on the ground and then figured what the heck we can just lay wherever I guess.

This morning I found 3 more eggs laid under the roost bars, all soft shelled. Additionally I found some droppings in the run that appear to have an incomplete egg attached.

They are on Dumor organic layer feed, grit and oyster shell offered free choice, soldier fly larvae as snacks/extra protein once or twice a day.

The only change they’ve experienced, is I made them a small batch of fermented feed for the first time this week, and fed it to them Wednesday. After all the research I did, I can’t imagine the fermented feed would have caused the change so I’m hoping the timing is coincidental, but I am a first time chicken mom so - my knowledge is limited.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!

 

[azygous]

Shell-less eggs from new layers, especially multiple layers, points to possible vitamin D deficiency. If your chickens are being kept indoors on artificial light, that could be why they aren't able to absorb vitamin D. Layer feed usually has all they need, but sunlight is still necessary for proper absorption of calcium.

That's the most common reason for soft eggs. Other causes are disease that affects egg laying. But rectifying the most obvious cause is a good first step toward hopefully solving the problem. If sunlight exposure isn't the issue in your case, giving a calcium plus D3 supplement may help.

 

[Kleighm]

Shell-less eggs from new layers, especially multiple layers, points to possible vitamin D deficiency. If your chickens are being kept indoors on artificial light, that could be why they aren't able to absorb vitamin D. Layer feed usually has all they need, but sunlight is still necessary for proper absorption of calcium.

That's the most common reason for soft eggs. Other causes are disease that affects egg laying. But rectifying the most obvious cause is a good first step toward hopefully solving the problem. If sunlight exposure isn't the issue in your case, giving a calcium plus D3 supplement may help.

Thank you for your reply, that’s good to know! It’s been cold and rainy the last few days here, so while they were able to go out in their run when the rain dried up, there wasn’t much sunlight for them.