Laying soft shelled eggs

[J Smith]

My 6 new pullets just began to lay about a month ago. They are a production brown egg layer. All but one chicken are laying good strong eggs. One chicken seems to be laying soft shelled eggs at odd hours of the night or morning and it appears that the chickens have eaten the egg by the time I find it just a soft shell. They are about 23-24 weeks old and I am just finishing up the grower pellets I gave them. I will be staring laying mash either this week or next. I am giving them probiotics in their water and all appear to be healthy. I am wondering why this one chicken is laying soft shelled eggs. She seemed to be laying hard shell eggs at first, but now seems to always lay soft shelled. eggs. I have supplemented them with free choice oyster shell. I am not sure if it is the fact that they are not on layer mash yet or if it is just a defect in the one chicken. Anyone have any ideas

 

[Willow2253]

Most likely she isn’t getting enough calcium. Switching to layer feed will help, some chickens aren’t very good about eating as much oyster as they should, and since they’re still young she may not know how much she needs yet. In the future, it’s better to switch to layer feed around 18 weeks, just before they start laying.

 

[J Smith]

Most likely she isn’t getting enough calcium. Switching to layer feed will help, some chickens aren’t very good about eating as much oyster as they should, and since they’re still young she may not know how much she needs yet. In the future, it’s better to switch to layer feed around 18 weeks, just before they start laying.

I wasn't sure if that was the case or not. Thanks.

 

[Es_In_Miami]

New layers can have issues.

Like the prior post, good layer feed and plenty of available oyster shell available for them in a separate feeder. In order to encourage the youngest hens eat the oyster shell I sprinkled it with meal worm (aka chicken crack). That seemed to make them happy. You can also purchase calcium supplement for their water.

I have one that still occasionally lays a soft shelled eggs, I think just one. She has only been laying eggs for a bit over 2 months. All four lay on a regular basis. Most days I get four eggs, a few 3-egg days and a couple of 1-egger days so far this year. The great majority of the eggs are not thin shelled. In this situation I suspect bad meal worms I foolishly ordered from Amazon may be at the problem. When I stopped feeding them the cheap worms the eggs were fine within a day. When I fed them the cheap worms the soft egg reappeared. Not sure if anyone else has had this experience. I only feed it to the roosters now. They don't seems to be affected. It also makes good fertilizer. Never getting that again.

There are some diseases that will cause soft shelled eggs. If no sign of illness and your hen is young and well fed I would watch her and see if it clears. Hope it does soon.