Is it possible a hen will lay an egg with no shell at all?

[paddock36]

If I wasn't nearby I wouldn't have believed it could be possible but I saw my Barred Rock sitting in the coop and when she got up there was an egg in perfect condition without any shell. It looked like someone cracked open an egg in the coop. The yolk was still intact but there was not even the slightest hint of a shell.

 

[countyroad1330]

My dad and grandma say that after a thunderstorm they would have several eggs like that! I always wondered if it was true. Their theory was that the thundered scared the hens and they popped em out early. Lol

 

[ghulst]

Very common

 

[Mahonri]

You want to make certain that she didn't break the egg internally and that she doesn't have egg shell lodged in the ovaduct.

 

[paddock36]

When she came out of the coup she looked fine from what I could see.

 

[angels4]

I've had that on occasion. I started putting out some crushed oyster shells and that the girls can pick at freely and the "soft" shells are a thing of the past.

 

[hinkjc]

It is most common when they come into and go out of their lay cycle. Also, when startled, they can prematurely pass an egg (night time most often).