Long awaited eggs have arrived but...

[Gritsneggs]

I’ll try to make this short. My hens are golden sex link and RIR. 3 of each. 2 of the GSL are laying and 1 of the RIR. There was a 4th egg today and I have no idea who laid it. They are 22 and 21 weeks respectively. The hen that laid at 17 weeks lays with no problem. Nice egg every day. Even a double yolked egg once already. The other three. Well, the RIR has laid a nice egg since the day after Florence it. The GSL started laying the day Florence hit. Eggs were fine. Yesterday one of the eggs was laid on the ground with a soft shell and busted. Today 2 eggs soft shells and busted. One egg laid on the ground with no shell. They have eggs shells and oyster shells to freely feed on. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[LittleMissCountry]

If they are new layers it is normal to have some soft shell or even no shelled eggs.
When my first started laying, she laid a perfect egg the first day, then skipped several days, laid two soft shelled, then another perfect, then more soft shell. It took a few weeks. My others all laid at least one or two soft shell, and one laid a no shelled one.

 

[snow5164]

As @LittleMissCountry said it’s all normal practice laying,

If they have all the good feed and oyster shells available and are eating well , you can sprinkle a little oyster shells on the food just so they are aware of it they will probably leave it behind in the feeder.

What are you feeding them? Protein amount?

 

[Gritsneggs]

I’m feeding them a local homemade store feed and laying pellets. Both are 16.5% protein. They also get chopped kale/carrot tops/slit grass, a hard boiled egg per day and maybe some fruit occasionally. Oh and some bird seed here and there. They are brand new layers. Only one has been laying every day since 17 weeks. She’s laid a perfect egg everyday and in the laying box. I suspect the RIR that started laying last week hasn’t laid today because she always laid in the box. Maybe the three bad eggs today are the remaining three hens and all are laying now?? We will see what happens tomorrow.

 

[aart]

Cut out all the extras but the layer feed(maybe feed only the pellets) and the hard boiled egg(chop it up with the shell too).

Only give that other stuff once a week.

Curious, how long have they been on layer feed?

local homemade store feed

What exactly is this? Cracked grains? What's the calcium percentage?
Pic of nutrition tag would help.

 

[Gritsneggs]

It’s an old timy bag, there is no ingredient label or supplemental facts. It is whole grain natural stuff. It does have cracked cron and sunflower seeds in it. Everyone around here uses it just the way I am with great success. I had another soft egg already this morning and Helen had her usual perfect egg. I have the pellets mixed with the homemade stuff in a huge bin. It isn’t perfectly mixed and I have been picking out the pellets for them to eat. So the feed they have been getting for just over a week is mostly the pellets. I think that is what got them laying in the first place. They do get all the egg shells in the house. With their hard boiled egg and all the eggs we eat. I let them dry out and ground them up. I mix them with the kale and other house
Greens. But I’ll stop that if you think it’s hurting. I thought kale was actually pretty high in calcium.

 

[aart]

In the US it's required that there be a nutrition label attached to feed bag.
If I'm feeding them hardboiled eggs I chop the whole thing up shell and all.
I too dry other egg shells, crush and mix with oyster shell and feed in a separate container. Don't mix OS or shells with any other feed/treats.
Some greens, like spinach, can hinder the absorption of calcium.
Layer feed is meant to be the sole feed...so just to rule it out the other foods being the peoblem, feed only the feed for a week or two and see if there's a difference.

 

[Gritsneggs]

Ok thank you! I will do just that! I’ll post a pic of the feed bag too.