laying half soft shelled eggs?? UPDATE, not good.

[LindsayB]

With that many hens I don't really know how to tell who's laying that egg, unless you want to sit and watch all of them all day lol. I've tried everything with this hen, and I feel awful about culling her. I'm not even sure if I can do it. I've raised meat birds and culled other hens before but this one is just so friendly and always following me around. Shes a great pet but our hens are really here for the eggs...I don't know what to do...

 

[misgallinas6]

if they need calcium bake some egg shells crash them and feed your ladies!! its been done for centuries! and it works!

 

[LindsayB]

I'm giving her a ton of calcium. Too much probably! lol. I think there's something going on inside her reproductive tract. She a year old rhode island red, they should be prolific layers...I'm getting maybe 2 a week from her. and about half of those have no shell. I'll probably have my husband cull her soon. I'd hate for her to become ill while we're gone one day and suffer. Plus cleaning out the nest box from a shell-less egg every time is not fun.

 

[newchicmomma]

I have 2 RI Reds that just started laying a little over a month ago. In the past week and a half we have got 2-3 soft eggs from one of them (not sure which one,) and since I'm a newbie I thought it was the heat wave we were in and now I'm freaking out!

So not every egg is a defect and I do have two Ameracaunas as well. What is the suggestion to nip this in the butt? Calcium? Oyster shells? If calcium where do I get it?

 

[BravewingTheHen]

My chickens do this quite frequently. Actually, once I picked a hen up and she dropped an egg with no shell right then and there. In my arms. After that she dropped one more egg with no shell again, then she seemed to be fine. I just give them cracked oyster shell or slightly smashed eggshell. I can always tell when they need more of these things, because they will start eating the pine shavings in their coop. Not sure if this will help.

Good luck with your hens!

~BravewingTheHen

 

[newchicmomma]

I bought the crushed oyster shells and I'll just keep monitoring them. Thank you!

 

[JohnL]

Just discovered this thread; it's the closest thing to my own experience.

We bought 3 grown laying Rhode Island Reds about 5 months ago. All had a normal and healthy egg production, UNTIL one of them jumped the fence to be gently 'mauled' by the neighbor's dog, a playful Border Collie. Well, "Heather" lost some feathers but otherwise seemed OK. But, I think it was right away when her eggs were PARTIALLY formed. The 'lower' half would be soft, but crackable, while the top would be gelatin. It is still like that after probably 3 months. We have dutifully supplied assorted water additives, food supplements, oyster shells, feed with calcium, egg booster, etc. No change.

So here is a premise I wish to introduce: what if the 'mauling' event caused stress or injury to result in a lack of 'dwell time' in the oviduct where the calcium is stimulated? Really, it's the only thing that makes sense to me. I know that there are valves at both ends of the stomach, that, when not working properly can cause acid reflux or inadequate digestion (diarrhea).

This is my first year as a chicken rancher.

 

[gayleann]

I am probably late coming into this discussion about wrinkled or soft eggs. Sometimes it could be helpful to do a wider query with problems, although BackYard Chickens is a wonderful place to start. Anyhow. I have just four chickens, none of which have this problem. A neighbor has 12 chickens and one or maybe two have a problem occasionally with wrinkled or soft shells. I found an answer at:
https://poultrykeeper.com/egg-problems/wrinkled-egg-shells/
It says that wrinkled eggs could be a sign the chicken has had a previous bronchial infection. The pictures on that url are exactly like the eggs she is seeing. Please check out that article to see if it will help, it answered it for me. The chickens in question must have survived the infection, as they are laying eggs. However, the original infection might have lasting effects on egg production. It seems it isn't a health risk at this point.
Good luck, Gayle