New pullet laying multiple soft eggs a day

[bellefonte_tapper]

This forum has been invaluable. I have used it so frequently. But now I have a question I can't seem to find the answer to.

Have a back yard flock of 6 pullets. Two at 21 weeks, two at 20 weeks, one at 17 weeks, and one at 15 weeks. I let them out of the coop/run for a few hours a day. One of the oldest pullets just started laying.

Here are the eggs she has laid with date/time:
Day 1 - 9 AM - Hard shelled egg
Day 1 - 9 PM - Soft shelled egg
Day 2 - 8:30 AM - Soft shelled egg
Day 2 - 10 PM - Soft Shelled egg
Day 3 - 10 AM - Soft shelled egg
Day 4 - 2:45 AM - Soft shelled egg
Day 4 - 4:50 AM - Soft shelled egg

In 4 days she has laid 7 eggs! The last two were about 2 hours apart. I put up a camera so I know that she has laid all of these eggs.

I am still feeding them developer feed but I have oyster shell and grit available in separate containers. About daily I feed them a few meal worms or oatmeal. They also eat some grapes off the vine (probably just a few every day). Not sure what to do. Hoping she grows out of it but is there something else that I am missing?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wouldn't worry. She may just be working out her kinks

 

[Weeg]

Sometimes they are weird and don't know what good for them, and they don't eat the oyster shell. My chickens are like this, so what I do, is buy a rooster booster supplement and mix it in there food, or I take the oyster shells and mix it in really well in there food, so the dust coats the pellets. I usually do the oyster shell method, and they seem to get much better, since that is more efficient for calcium, but the rooster booster is good to mix in now and then. I wouldn't worry though, just try mixing in the oyster shell, and see if she perks up! Good luck, Avery

 

[bellefonte_tapper]

Thanks. It's hard not to worry. Problem is that I have a 15 week pullet. I believe pullets shouldn't get that much calcium until at least 18 weeks. Which puts me at feeding developer feed for another few weeks.

Haven't heard of the rooster booster. Is it something I can give to a 15 week pullet? Does it add calcium to their diet?

Thanks!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Calcium can be tricky. I have a hen I call my canary in the mine. As soon as they start needing more calcium, her shells get all wonky or don't even have shells. Immediately, so she's actually what I go off of instead of just general age and breeds

 

[Weeg]

Rooster booster should be fine, Heres what it looks like and the discription below in the link should answer your question.

https://www.qcsupply.com/rooster-booster-poultry-booster.html

 

[RainbowHen]

You could give her a bit of liquid calcium every couple days to boost her levels

 

[bellefonte_tapper]

Thanks everyone for the quick replies. Rooster booster looks great to have around and I didn't even know there was such a thing as liquid calcium. I will have to give both a try and see what happens. Thanks again.

 

[Weeg]

I am not super experienced with supplements so someone corrected the if i'm wrong, but I don't think I would give both at the same time, you don't want to over load, especially if you were worried about her being only 15 weeks old. I would try the rooster booster first, the lesser calcium, then upgrade to the liquid calcium if nothing changes in a few days. Good luck, Avery

 

[bellefonte_tapper]

Good advice. She is 21 weeks old. I mentioned the 15 week old just as a way of saying I didn't want to switch the entire flock over to layer feed just yet.