Got a soft shelled egg..

[Olly]

So my girls are still quite young no older than 20 weeks, my biggest girl started laying 3 days ago, she layed a nice big egg the first day, a slightly smaller one yesterday. Today I went to check for an egg and didn't find one in the nesting box or coop, she layed both previous eggs around 1-2pm so I figured she may just be taking her time today.

I checked again about 5pm and still no egg so I did some investigation around the run I've built for them to wonder, I found a really soft shelled egg on the floor, it was already broken and almost clear.. Kind of a rubbery texture. Any ideas? Is this common for new layers?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

So my girls are still quite young no older than 20 weeks, my biggest girl started laying 3 days ago, she layed a nice big egg the first day, a slightly smaller one yesterday. Today I went to check for an egg and didn't find one in the nesting box or coop, she layed both previous eggs around 1-2pm so I figured she may just be taking her time today.

I checked again about 5pm and still no egg so I did some investigation around the run I've built for them to wonder, I found a really soft shelled egg on the floor, it was already broken and almost clear.. Kind of a rubbery texture. Any ideas? Is this common for new layers?

Hi !

Egg shell quality is primarily dependent upon the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals in the diet. Calcium and vitamin D3 are the crucial nutrients involved in egg shell formation. Calcium functions in the actual egg shell formation. Egg shells are comprised of 95% calcium carbonate. Vitamin D3 is critical for the absorption of calcium by the hen. Poultry can synthesize a portion of vitamin D3 through exposure to sunlight but additional vitamin D3 is necessary in the diet. An excess of any of these major nutrients involved in shell formation can result in weak or soft eggs shells and reduced egg production. Purina

http://poultrykeeper.com/egg-problems/

Here are links I have saved in regards to eggs.....

http://neospark.com/images/EggshellDefects.pdf

http://idosi.org/wasj/wasj12(3)/21.pdf

http://www.motherearthnews.com/mode...chicken-egg-quality-all-you-need-to-know.aspx

http://www.plamondon.com/dollar_chap11.pdf

 

[ChickensRDinos]

soft shelled eggs are common among new layers. Their egg making parts are still working out the process. So irregular egg laying and a few strange eggs in the beginning are normal. Make sure they have some calcium and don't worry about it.

 

[Olly]

Thanks for the speedy response. Those links will come in handy.
They have access to oyster shells It comes in a grit mix I give them seperate to their feed. Tonight I used the two eggs shells I got from the one laying, baked them and crushed them so if they need more calcium it's there.. As you said with diets could treats be a problem? I mainly give them yogurt once every few days.. Natural yogurt with some fruit added like banana or apple?
I guess I'm just going to have to wait it out and see what she lays for me tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[Olly]

no egg today as far as I can tell, either that or she laid another soft one and it's been eaten..