egg without a shell?

[lablover]

Yesterday one of my hens laid an egg without a shell. The whole thing was formed, it wasn't just the yolk. It just lacked the outer shell. What caused it?

 

[sumi]

Soft shelled or shell-less eggs are usually caused by stress, lack of calcium in the hen's diet, or in some cases disease. Occasionally a hen may have a little hiccough in her system and the egg will pass through too quickly and not have time to get it's shell coating. Unless it happens often, I won't worry about it.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

Soft shelled or shell-less eggs are usually caused by stress, lack of calcium in the hen's diet, or in some cases disease. Occasionally a hen may have a little hiccough in her system and the egg will pass through too quickly and not have time to get it's shell coating. Unless it happens often, I won't worry about it.

sumi is right. Also, shell-less eggs are also seen in some pullets new to laying. I had a new pullet who laid a shell-less egg, and then no more shell-less eggs.

 

[lablover]

They've been laying for about 5 months now. When they first started, I did have one come out as just the yolk basically. But this one just did not have a shell. They have oyster shells available, and usually their egg shells are rather hard, thick to break, etc.

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

It's probably that the egg just came out too fast, like sumi said.

 

[donrae]

I get these on and off, usually from new layers. She just forgot to put the shell on, not to fret. It's just a glitch and doesn't mean you need to change anything in your management. Now, if it happens regularly, you'd need to look at the specific hen's future as a layer. But a once in a while thing's no biggie.


I just HATE reaching in the nest box and touching one of those! It's all soft and squishy and rubbery..........

they give me the willies!

 

[lablover]

I just HATE reaching in the nest box and touching one of those! It's all soft and squishy and rubbery..........

they give me the willies!

I KNOW! Gross!

I had a feeling that it was just a glitch, but I had to make sure.

Thanks everyone!