increase in soft eggs with no shell?

[emilychicken]

One of my birds has started laying soft eggs...usually she lays one right after a regular egg. It happened once or twice, but has increased to about 3 over the last 5 days. They seem to have all of their dietary needs met...and she's not stressed as far as I can tell. Thoughts?

 

[Cotton42]

Do you have free choice calcium? Like oyster shell or egg shell?

 

[terryg]

You don't say how old she is, but the older the hen the more frequent these soft eggs. It is very easy for their calcium/mineral/protein balance to get out of whack after their first year laying. Whereas the pullets can eat anything (lots of bread and leftovers) a good diet becomes increasingly necessary as they age. I've found that if I only feed laying hen pellets, greens and free-choice calcium to my old hens that they have a much easier time laying. I've also found that an epsom salt soak can set things right. See this: http://hencam.com/faq/the-spa-treatment/

Other problems can also cause soft eggs, including stress, heat and infections.

 

[emilychicken]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not sure of her age because she was adopted. They receive oyster shells and egg shells. We have had a bit of a mini heat wave, so maybe it is a combination of things.

I've been feeding the soft eggs to the dogs, so they aren't wasted...but I do hope the chicken is ok!

 

[Cotton42]

You can eat soft shelled eggs, there is nothing wrong with them.