HELP! 5 eggs from 3 layers in 1 day and thin watery shells...

[chickchick]

Can anyone help me out on this one?

I have 6 chickens, 3 are now laying and I am getting 1-3 eggs a day.

Today I collected 1 good hard-shelled egg in the morning along with 2 watery, thin to no shelled eggs sitting together in a lump. I thought weird, maybe another is starting to lay and this is the first run, or that someone is not getting adequate nutrition.

Then I collected 2 more good eggs in the afternoon.

Then when I went to lock up at night I collected another 2 watery, thin to no shelled eggs, again in a lump together.

That's 7 in one day from 6 birds, 3 of which I know lay.

Could the chickens be cycling too fast and laying before their eggs are ready? How could I have gotten so many, and I have never before got any of these watery ones.

Also, yesterday I noticed that a couple of my chickens were sneezing, could having a cold have something to do with this??

Does anyone have any suggestions, I am really lost here,

thanks so much for any input!

 

[SillyChick]

Hello there

Hmmm...........this might be caused of lack of calcium........calcium is needed for the making of the egg shell. If the hen doesn't have enough calcium, she might lay a thin to no shelled egg. You can prevent this by giving them calcium, like finely crushed oyster shells, but you can also use egg shells. This way, they will have calcium to produce egg shells for the eggs. Oh, don't feed calcium on young chicks, it is dangerous to them.

Good luck!

 

[chickchick]

They have oyster shell in their run, some eat it and some don't.
It seems like maybe one chicken laid 2 shell-less eggs at one time, and that happened twice in one day...can that happen?

 

[rotzilla]

do you have them on layer feed? at our blue seal they told us everything they need is in the feed. one of ours laid a softshell weeks after they started to lay and that was the end of it. i have oyster shell on hand if needed. but it hasnt been. i wouldnt worry too much over one day. if it keeps up then you need to change someting in their diet.

 

[Pine Grove]

I believe you have infectious bronchitis going through your flock, with the sneezing and soft shelled eggs that is a good indication, Just supplement with a good vitamin and things will be back to normal in a couple of weeks after it runs it's course