First egg! Help with soft shelled eggs and what to feed.

[HenniesInMyHeart]

Don't worry! New layers can have weird eggs and at weird times. Yes they can lay more than once in 24 hours, and have weird-shelled eggs! Have you switched them to layer food from chick food? Remember to do that if all your girls are grown up so they have enough calcium.

 

[TheYLWFlock]

Awesome thanks! We kind of figured it was just her getting used to laying and I think she’s got everything she needs, a good nest box, oyster shell for calcium, it’s the just the feed that I’m confused on. Right now they are eating their 18% protein grower feed that you feed up until they switch to layer feed, but since only one is laying, I’m not sure whether to stick to the food they’re on now and just keep providing the extra calcium via oyster shell, or switch than to layer feed, or do a mix of both foods.... hopefully someone will be able to answer that. Yesterday I gave the soft shelled egg to our dog after cracking it open, although I would have been fine eating it myself, it looked completely normal. I just threw the shell-less egg in the compost (**shell-less eggs are normal for just-starting-to-lay pullets?**)

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

I've never personally seen a shell-less one, but they can do weird things until they get their cycle stable. There are some good threads on here about new hennie laying stuff. On the food, I am not sure, but hopefully someone else will answer!

 

[Criticalicious]

Look at the percentages on the bags. The major difference between grower and layer feed (assuming same brand) is protein and calcium. Grower has more protein, less calcium and layer vice-versa. Protein grows feathers and calcium grows egg shells. Will a 2% change in protein and a 1.5% change in calcium matter to your flock? Only you can answer that.

Some people feed grower throughout the birds' life, especially in mixed flocks, with calcium on the side and do fine. For example, they need more protein and less calcium when they're molting and growing feathers, because they aren't laying as much. So some people change back to grower during these time periods, because their birds do better. But layer can be a few dollars cheaper and if you're feeding many hens, this could matter. I've read that the extra calcium in layer is bad for roosters, but others swear it has no effects. Every breed is different and opinions vary.

Right now I have 6 BCM - 5 pullets and a rooster, but 3 of the pullets are 6 weeks younger. In other words, I have a mixed flock. The 3 younger pullets should start laying in the next 2 weeks, and when the last bag of grower ran out about a week ago, I decided to switch to layer. The two older pullets seemed to do fine with grower, although they were eating more oyster than they are now. Except it being a fresh bag, I don't think the chickens noticed the difference between grower and layer. They're still eating like pigs.

 

[Criticalicious]

Before I switched foods, one of my pullets was extra pale and laying eggs every other day. At one point she laid two eggs together. One was squishy and they were both a weird rough looking sandy color, when all her other eggs were dark brown and smooth up to this point. I suspect a confluence of factors caused this: New layer, extra hot temperatures, and stress from being at the bottom of the pecking order. She's the rooster's favorite and when he jumps her, sometimes the other pullet thinks it's time to beat on her. Gave her extra treats and food, Nutridrench and time outs away from the other two, and the paleness went away. Egg production seems to have smoothed out as well.

 

[TheYLWFlock]

Thank you so muchfor all of the advice!