First Layers Help Please

[clara11]

Hi all,
I have four chickens we raised from day olds - three black sex linked I think they are called? They are cross between barred rock and Wyandotte. Then I have a silver laced Wyandotte.
They started laying a week or two ago. Just one of the black ones to start off with but I'm pretty confident all are laying now. I wasn't sure if the Wyandotte was but I know she is now.
We have been getting the old soft shell egg in the back yard at odd times of the day. This morning at about 6am there was lots of sing song coming from inside the hutch. We went and checked and we had 1 egg in the lay box and 3 soft shelled eggs that had been laid from the roost. Then an hour later the Wyandotte laid an egg in the nest. Five eggs from four chickens?
Is this normal? Is there anything I can do to stop the soft shelled eggs? They are on a laying pellet, and have shell grit. I let them out to roam the yard at about 10 most days until they go back to bed. It's been pretty hot here lately.
Sorry for the huge explanation and questions! I am new at all this!

 

[clara11]

Oh and how can I stop the laying from the roost? It has happened a few times now. I have put golf balls in the laying boxes and two of the hens lay right next to them <3
One of the others, we call her Black Beauty, likes to fly out of the coop and lays on the grass just outside it :/ we have clipped her wings but she is pretty insistent. None of the others fly out.

 

[lazy gardener]

It's not uncommon for those soft eggs to be laid everywhere but in the nest box. The hens often seem to have a hard time passing them, and other times, they just seem to slip out without her even being aware. Do you have any fake eggs in the nest? They should get their act together soon.

 

[BonRae67]

Yes it is possible to get 5 eggs out of 4 chickens. It won't happen all the time. Maybe a late layer yesterday that you may not have collected. How long have they been laying to address the soft shell issue? Do they have good suppy of oyster shell to peck at?

 

[clara11]

I have a couple of golf balls in the nest! They've only been laying two weeks tops and yup they have oyster shell.

 

[Cluckies]

My Gold Commet laid a few soft shell eggs when she started laying, but I haven't seen one in months now (she is a hybrid like the black sex links). I think maybe in the beginning their "equipment" isn't in sink. Hopefully it will all pull together soon.

 

[BonRae67]

I have a couple of golf balls in the nest! They've only been laying two weeks tops and yup they have oyster shell.

Their shells should be getting shell like soon. They will get the nesting box thing soon too.

 

[aart]

New layers can be quite goofy acting, they don't know what they are doing at first and can be confused and anxious.
It can take up to a month or so for them to get it together, meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.


Make sure the nests are easy to get up and down from.

Maybe only out fake eggs / golf balls in couple of the nests, leaving at least one nest bare......
.....one of my pullets refused to use her nest until I took the fake eggs out of it, after a while it didn't bother her.