Hen lays a soft egg every day?!

[mtma]

I have a two-year old black Easter egger hen who seems otherwise healthy and lays a soft-shelled egg almost every day. Usually by the time we get to the coop hers is crushed by another hen in the laying box (since they all seem to use a favorite box, which changes daily!). Their layer pellet is supplemented with oyster shells (the oyster shells are also freely available to them separately), and they have free-range access to almost an acre of prairie, trees, garden, grass, etc. We just have four chickens in there now (chicks are still indoors), and they have a 4x6 coop. She does not seem to be picked on, and is active and sweet. She did not used to lay soft eggs, this is new in the last month or two. She also lays a large double-yolked about once a month. The other girls' eggs seem fine. Help please! Thank you!

 

[Nathaliexx]

I have the same problem with Diva..i hope someone knows what to do. I was thinking of feeling her mashed (boiled) eggs, not sure if that would help tho..
I’ll wait for others to give us some advise..

 

[mtma]

Anyone else?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Any illness or just seeming *off* prior to this starting? With information given it sounds like a shell gland issue, possibly related to a previous illness

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Their layer pellet is supplemented with oyster shells (the oyster shells are also freely available to them separately)

She did not used to lay soft eggs, this is new in the last month or two. She also lays a large double-yolked about once a month.

Can you clarify- are you mixing the oyster shell with the feed too or just offering it free choice?


You can try giving her 1/2 tablet Caltrate for 1 week to see if that makes a difference. Offer oyster shell free choice, don't mix with feed.
She's been doing this for the last month or two - did she molt in the fall or over the winter and is now coming back into lay or was she laying hard shell eggs and now they are soft?
She may be having a malfunction with the shell gland, it does happen, but it would be good to rule out worms and external parasites just to make sure.

 

[mtma]

We sprinkled the oyster feed in the pellets, and also offer it freely in its own container. She has been healthy. The only trauma that I am aware she has had is the end of last summer/early fall we had two hens that picked on her and plucked out about a third of her feathers. We gave those hens away and she promptly grew back her beautiful plumage. She may have molted around the time she was growing her feathers back in too, but it was hard to tell since she was a kind of a mess already!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did she lay eggs during the time that she was re-growing all those feathers back?

I guess the question would be - did she stop laying eggs for a period of time during fall/winter that might indicate that she was molting and now she is coming back into lay?

 

[mtma]

She did stop laying for several months this winter.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would try the extra calcium for 1 week, see if that helps at all. See that she's eating her normal feed, hopefully things will improve.

 

[chkva]

I'd add extra calcium whether it's crushed up calcium pills, egg shells, oyster shells or what not.

I learned a trick from someone else I know who's had chickens and it may sound weird and you'll probably look like I did when they told me... Buy a rotisserie chicken at the store or make your own, eat off it what you like for dinner or what not. Give the carcass bones and all to the chickens (clean up after a few hours). This helped mine tremendously. They scrape of the bone and get calcium plus eat all the other stuff that's on the rotisserie. The marrow in the bones is extremely good for them too. I thought it was insane and stupid at the time until I tried it. This person's family even tells them it's insane but their chickens lay an egg every day even in the winter with all the tricks they have up their sleeve. When you open their fridge in the garage there are usually 12+ full cartons of eggs!