Look what I found on the droppings board: (photo)

[kathyinmo]

Hooray, I got my first egg ....

BUT, obviously, she didn't know where to lay it!

The soft shell concerns me. I have free choice oyster shell and grit supplied. I don't know which chicken layed the egg, so I can't supplement to just her. Should I add more calcium to the whole flock?

ETA: My chickens are about 17 - 18 weeks old. I think it came from a black sex link, as they have the reddest faces, combs, and waddles.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

If they are just starting to lay, then that is normal. They are still figuring out the plumbing

 

[Southernbelle]

/

The first couple eggs are often soft-shelled, she'll get organized in a few days/weeks. If you have calcium available, that is sufficient. If you haven't already, switch to laying feed. She probably didn't know this egg was coming!

 

[kathyinmo]

I started Layena a week or 10 days ago. I also have a small kitty dish (two sided) with oyster shell in one and granite grit in the other. All offered free choice.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
Perfect! You've done your part, then. She should get her act together soon. If she keeps dropping them while roosting, you might consider taking the roosts out, but I wouldn't do that, yet. Without the shell, she might not have felt this one coming. Beautiful orange yolk on her egg!

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Mine laid a soft shell too her first time...then it was normal, then a double yolk, then soft again LOL It took her a good two weeks to lay NORMAL eggs. Sometimes we still get an occasional double yolk

 

[kassy68]

No biggy.. I have a RIR that the first night she came here she laid a shelless egg.. then when I moved them into the new coop she laid a shelless egg, Not sure what cuz egg 3 and 4.. but then I am treating her for bumble foot and after soaking her feet and holding her etc she laid another shelless egg in the crate where she DID NOT wanna be at all. So beginner layers, or when they get a little stressed.. No biggy though.. they are always normal the following day.. and this girl is my every single day layer with almost perfect everytime..

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Congrats!!!

 

[kwynn's birds Alaska]

someone on this site told me the shell-less were also called wind eggs, or fart eggs. I thought it was funny sounding ,but all my first timers had one. I actually had one that was still whole, it hadn't popped. It reminded me of a giant blister. it was squishey to the touch, and if you held it up to the light you could see the yolk really well.

edited to congradulate you on your first egg

 

[kathyinmo]

So, are you all telling me that I am likely to find this 40 times???? (40 hens)