Hen laying 2 soft eggs a day

[chadley718]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this:

I have an EE that has been laying for about a month now and for the last week, she has been laying 2 soft shell eggs a day. She had previously laid a few double-yolkers, but now it's 2 separate eggs that are soft.

They get plenty of oyster shell and free range for hours a day. I don't think it's a calcium thing as much as a 2 eggs a day thing. Any idea how to get her regular?

 

[azygous]

When you say she's been laying for a month, am I right in assuming she's around six months old and is a new layer?

It may just be a simple case of her body trying to establish a regular cycle of ovulation, but calcium does enter into the equation. Calcium not only contributes to shell building, but it also regulates the entire "egg factory".

It wouldn't hurt to supplement her calcium for a few days with some calcium citrate. That's regular women's calcium supplement. Calcium citrate is far easier to assimilate than oyster shell calcium, so it could "jump start" her little factory and get it in sync.

I crush a pill and roll it into a dab of peanut butter and offer it to the hen. If your girl likes grated carrots, you can pulverize the pill into powder and sprinkle it over the grated carrot. Do this once a day until you see she's started to lay hard shell eggs and she's on a regular one egg every 25 hour cycle.

 

[chadley718]

When you say she's been laying for a month, am I right in assuming she's around six months old and is a new layer?

It may just be a simple case of her body trying to establish a regular cycle of ovulation, but calcium does enter into the equation. Calcium not only contributes to shell building, but it also regulates the entire "egg factory".

It wouldn't hurt to supplement her calcium for a few days with some calcium citrate. That's regular women's calcium supplement. Calcium citrate is far easier to assimilate than oyster shell calcium, so it could "jump start" her little factory and get it in sync.

I crush a pill and roll it into a dab of peanut butter and offer it to the hen. If your girl likes grated carrots, you can pulverize the pill into powder and sprinkle it over the grated carrot. Do this once a day until you see she's started to lay hard shell eggs and she's on a regular one egg every 25 hour cycle.

Yes, she is almost 6 months old. She was the first Hen to start laying and did really well for about 2.5 weeks (1 every day) We have 9 girls total and all of them are now laying except for 1. Great tip on the Calcium Citrate, she loves PB and yogurt, so I can crush it into something like that for her.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[aart]

Calcium is not the only nutrient needed for good hard shells.
They are other vitamins/minerals/amino acids that are needed to utilize the calcium.
What and how exactly are you feeding?
Too many 'treats' can reduce the amount of balanced chicken ration they are eating.
Best to balance their overall diet before adding supplements.

 

[chadley718]

Calcium is not the only nutrient needed for good hard shells.
They are other vitamins/minerals/amino acids that are needed to utilize the calcium.
What and how exactly are you feeding?
Too many 'treats' can reduce the amount of balanced chicken ration they are eating.
Best to balance their overall diet before adding supplements.

Well, the good news is that she has only laid 1 a day and hard shells since my initial post. I feed Purina layena, they have constant access to it. I also feed watermelon, zucchini, greens and berries. They get dried mealworms about twice a week and bits of scratch daily. They generally get to free range for 4 - 6 hours weekdays and 12 hours a day on weekends. I do not feed any vitamin or mineral supplements but if there are suggestions, I would love to hear them.

 

[aart]

I feed Purina layena, they have constant access to it. I also feed watermelon, zucchini, greens and berries. They get dried mealworms about twice a week and bits of scratch daily......I do not feed any vitamin or mineral supplements but if there are suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Keep any 'treats' (other than the layer feed) to less than 10% of daily volume of layer feed.

 

[Rhonda3579]

Hi everyone, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this:

I have an EE that has been laying for about a month now and for the last week, she has been laying 2 soft shell eggs a day. She had previously laid a few double-yolkers, but now it's 2 separate eggs that are soft.

They get plenty of oyster shell and free range for hours a day. I don't think it's a calcium thing as much as a 2 eggs a day thing. Any idea how to get her regular?

We have a hen that laid a hard and a soft egg in the same day and trying to find out why that hap

 

[azygous]

We have a hen that laid a hard and a soft egg in the same day and trying to find out why that hap

This is an old thread, but you can start your own for more feedback on your issue.

It's unknown why this happens, but it happens more frequently than people think. It can happen to brand new layers, as well as seasoned layers, and it happens to hens getting into their latter years.

The treatment is calcium citrate, one tablet daily until the problem corrects and the hen is laying one egg per 25 hour cycle and the eggs have normal shells. This is the type of calcium I use and recommend.