First eggs-soft shelled.

[LillianMae]

So last night and this morning I discovered my first two eggs. Both of them were soft shelled. Today I'm getting layer feed to give them some extra calcium. Will this fix it?

 

[Kelsie2290]

By soft shelled, do you mean no shell / membrane, or do you mean there is a shell and it is thin? When pullets start laying it usually takes them a little time to get on track and it is not unusual for them to lay odd eggs, no shell, double yolks etc, they are just working the kinks out of their system. Since they have started laying it is a good time to start feeding them layer feed or give them oyster shell or other calcium free choice,
There are other causes like some vitamin or mineral deficiencies, or a hens ability to use/absorb calcium, and there are some diseases that can cause it, but in young birds, the shell-less or thin shelled eggs are probably just a glitch in the system where the shell gland is just immature and they will work it out in the next couple of weeks and you will have more eggs than you know what to do with.
Thin shelled eggs in older hens can definitely be caused by too little calcium (not a problem/disease in the hen) which is why laying hens should get layer feed or calcium, but unless you are feeding your girls a really bad diet, lack of calcium is usually not the problem in young pullets.

 

[newraiser]

I had a ? About double yolks is there a breed that lays double yolk or is it a mishap or what cause I remember when I was younger dad would get eggs from the neighbor an the whole dozen would be double yolk

 

[Brandi Leigh]

It is really common to have 'different' eggs when the hens start to lay. It usually goes away.

 

[LillianMae]

Ok, whew! I am still going to get layer feed because I need some ned feed today anyway, and they're all around the same age so before long my RIR won't be the only girl laying The eggs just have a reallllllly thin membrane over them. One more question, last night one of the eggs in the area I keep them in was popped (it was soft shelled again), do you think they popped it on purpose and were eating it? Or maybe one stepped on it, hopefully.

 

[dewdropsinwv]

When my chickens first started laying (about 2weeks ago) I had thin shells on the eggs, and one even broke when it was laid.... they ate it. It could have been any one of those reasons. Don panic.... I certainly did....lol They will be just fine. My chickens/ hens just started using their roost last week and they are 19 weeks old....lol

 

[chooksr5]

YAHOOOOOO, I have my FIRST egg, can't wait to show the kids. Yesterday I woke up to find a soft shell egg then this morning a beautiful brown egg, BUT haven't cracked it yet to see what's inside. Nevertheless still soooooo excited.

 

[terriclark]

Our RIR just laid her first egg a few days ago and they are little brown hard shelled eggs, very tasty! This evening we went out to check on the girls before bedding down and our Orpington had just laid her first, however it was soft shelled and they tried to eat it. We took away what we could so they won't get into the habit of eating them.

 

[aart]

A broken egg is fair game for them to eat and it won't necessarily lead to them eating eggs with good shells.
But I pick them up as soon as I see them, sometimes chuck them, sometimes cook them up scrambled and feed them back to the birds.

 

[GrammiChelle]

I just had my first soft shell egg. It was practically paper thin. And when I tried to pick it up, the shell disintegrated and the insides went everywhere. So I hurriedly scooped it up with a spade and got it away from the birds.
I have no real idea who laid it. My girls were hatched in April so they're all 8 months old. I have six RIRs and a Langshan. My girls all started out laying super thick shelled eggs. You had to work to crack them. I give them yogurt every two or three days. But I'm suspicious the Langshan may be the one who laid the shell-less egg and she's at the bottom of the pecking order and often doesn't get any. So I'll fix that and hopefully she won't lay anymore like that.
I also put their oyster shell in a better spot in the run so hopefully she will have better access to that. The next day, she laid a normal egg, so it might have been just a thing her body was going through.
It's the only strange egg I've gotten from my girls so I guess I'm doing okay. I've been reading some of the threads about strange eggs and I've seen things that I had no idea could happen. My whole chicken experience has been a super learning curve!!