Mystery: First egg this morning & then a soft one?

HollywoodCluck

In the Brooder
7 Years
Nov 7, 2012
23
0
24
Hollywood, CA
My Coop
My Coop
Ok, I wonder if anyone has any insight here. Had a weird thing happen.

Happily, our French Marans (Fifi) had her first egg this morning. It was tiny and had a nice hard thick shell.

Then, this evening while I was removing a cage from the run (we have a recently feathered girl I introduced a few weeks ago and finally removed her cage) I noticed a lil 'water' coming from Fifi's bum. She was outside the run but not far.

A few minutes later, I see Fifi pecking away at a very soft egg shell. Now, i have one other chicken laying-age (who has NOT laid yet to my knowledge), but not sure if it was hers or Fifi's. I took it away promptly, but I wonder what the situation is...

Does this ever happen with first time layers? Do chickens ever just 'drop' a soft egg outside the run on concrete? What about the watery substance coming from her? She gets plenty of oyster shell and looks very health to me...

Help!
 
One of my girls once laid a small regular egg and only a few hours later she laid a second soft egg. She was acting a bit sluggish and cranky but ended up being fine. She was a relatively new layer when it happened. It was a one time thing and she is a happy healthy hen today. She did not laid any more soft eggs after that. Perhaps they have a few glitches when they first start laying.

I don't know about the water. Keep an eye on her, hopefully she will sort it out herself.
 
This is totally normal for pullets just getting started laying - the egg just skipped the process in the chicken that puts the outer shell on. The egg your lady laid just didn't have a shell, what you see is the inner membrane. Not a calcium deficiency. Unless she continues doing this frequently, I wouldn't worry about it! You should expect some weird looking eggs for the next month or so!

Congrats on your first egg!!
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom