early laying and egg is soft

[embrown]

Hello, I have a 15 wk pullet who laid her first egg on Sat. It was a lovely brown egg. She laid Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, all late in the morning after 10 A.M. Today she did not lay until after 2 P.M. This egg is smooth but crackled when we picked it up,leaving finger prints indented. The membrane seems strong in that the egg did not leak when the shell crackled. This girl had sour crop so I treated that with vinegar in the water and giving her a yogurt treat, twice per day. I thought that this may be the reason...the extra nutrition and calcium, that she laid early. So, why 4 good eggs then a weak one? I have six birds, this one I think is an ISA brown. But I have not actually caught the layer. The other 3 are Bard rocks but still have small combs, as do the other two ISA browns. What can I do to improve the egg shell in the one that is laying. I have not given her yogurt for 2 or more weeks. Once she had laid on Sat I whent and bought layer feed. They have normal grit, but do I also need to give the oister shell grit? My hubby wants to know why we need this if the feed is supposed to be complete. It is possible this is a different bird, but that would be strange I think since it is yet early and there was only one egg not 2 or more. I am leaving out of town tomorrow and leaving the girls in the care of the neighbor so would like some concrete ideas to leave her to try. This is my first set of birds and they are the coollest endever I have made in quite some time. They bring so much joy to us and my backyard is so much more fun.Thank you for any ideas you can give me. Today is my DD's b-day so I do not have much time to search for information before we leave, but would love to come home to a full crate of eggs.

Beth

 

[Happy Chooks]

Oyster shell gives them added calcium for the eggshells.

Thought I'd bump this for you.

 

[Lancaster City Farmer]

My 17 week old NHRED laid 3 perfect eggs in a row and then 2 thin shelled egg farts within the same day.She then took one day off laying and has laid 2 perfect eggs since.It will take their young systems a while to get on track and a regular patern.

 

[cmom]

Mine layed some thin shelled eggs shortly after they first started laying. I had already put a dish out of free choice oyster shells, but there were some soft shells anyway.