Egg Laying From Roost Bar

[skullgrrrl]

have a 9 month old pullet who has been laying regularly. For the past couple of weeks I've found broken eggs on the coop floor. I was assuming there was an egg eater in the coop who had knocked them out of the nest box.

Then I realized she was laying them on the coop floor. A couple of days later I found broken eggs right under the roost bars. Today there was a broken egg on the roost bar! Who lays eggs while they are still in bed?

The first eggs seemed normal, these ones are definitely thin shelled. She gets free access to oyster shells and has plenty of calcium (yoghurt) weekly. Any suggestions?

 

[MeepBeep]

It's not uncommon for new layers to do this... Try adding a new nesting box or rearrange the existing ones to make them more appealing to her...

 

[skullgrrrl]

She has been laying for a couple of months no problem. I have 7 nest boxes for 18 hens. No matter how many you have there's always a favourite.

It seems a bit odd that she'd lay an egg at 6:30am while standing on the roost bar.

I'll increase her calcium intake and see if the shells thicken. None of my other layers have that issue.

 

[aart]

Put some fake eggs in the most the boxes...spread the love, works well in my coop.
She may be a lower status bird and having a hard time getting into that favorite nest?

Are her shells thin?

 

[skullgrrrl]

I have fake eggs. She often used the least occupied box so no problem there.

Today I found a thin shelled egg laid out in the yard.

I've given her yoghurt and oyster shells.

 

[April Hen]

I'm having a similar problem. For the last two days I've found soft broken eggs in the roost next to the nest. I have two laying hens. I get one good egg a day and they have oyster shells available...do not know what to do about it. It's like the egg isn't finished yet.

 

[MeepBeep]

Chickens are not machines, just like people some have 'reproductive' issues... When they lay 100-300 eggs a year sometimes there is a glitch in the process, for some chickens it's more frequent then others... If they have sufficient nutrition and toss out a soft egg regularly, it could be hereditary 'defect' in that chicken, sometimes as they settle in and get older the glitch works it's way out or it could flip flop and get worse... Also environmental issues can cause problems, extreme heat or cold can disrupt the egg making process, as can other environmental issues like stress (from other birds) or habitat, this is why I suggested adding more nesting boxes or re-arranging the existing... Even if you feel already have too many nesting boxes and they are suitable that doesn't mean the chicken feels the same way... Put a new nesting box of totally different design and size, in a different location in the coop and some might very well decide that is the new preferred one... They are quirky that way, that is why adding fake eggs helps, it sways their opinions to where it's safe to lay eggs...

On that note, for years now I have used plastic Easier Eggs filled with cat litter and epoxied shut as fake eggs, i don't know where I got the ones I had but they were decent quality... This year I went to make a few more and all the plastic EE in the stores were junk, super thin and just all around garbage... I'm sure there are still good ones out there, but instead I just hit up Walmart and got some super cheap golf balls, they have low end 'Nitro' brand balls very reasonably priced, I picked up some blaze orange ones so they stand out in the next box...

 

[April Hen]

Thank you.for your help. I will try the rearranging. She was laying good eggs for about a week and now this for the last two days. This is he second season laying, none of them laid all winter. There has been a change in the pecking order though. My oldest, April, has not been well. She is losing weight and drooling...she is walking around very slowly but does get around and certainly not as strong as she used to be. She is approximately 5 years old. I don't suppose you have any ideas on that would you?

 

[Julia62]

I have just started having a similar issue. I have 4 hens (three Easter Eggers and one Golden Comet). Three are one year old and one is two years old. My older hen has started laying only every 5 or 6 days now when she used to lay 29 out of 30 days. I've had several soft shelled eggs and this morning one that was laid on the roost! Yolk on the bottom underneath and the white soft sack was out of the coop when I went out to clean (I clean their coop every morning). They have quality feed, oyster shell, and 1200 sq ft of free range space. We did have a mid 90's heat spell last week.

 

[aart]

I have just started having a similar issue. I have 4 hens (three Easter Eggers and one Golden Comet). Three are one year old and one is two years old. My older hen has started laying only every 5 or 6 days now when she used to lay 29 out of 30 days. I've had several soft shelled eggs and this morning one that was laid on the roost! Yolk on the bottom underneath and the white soft sack was out of the coop when I went out to clean (I clean their coop every morning). They have quality feed, oyster shell, and 1200 sq ft of free range space. We did have a mid 90's heat spell last week.

Is the golden comet the 2 year old (24 months?) laying the soft eggs?
Has she molted yet?