new to chickens

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doughnut1619

doughnut1619

Hatching
5 Years
Jan 4, 2015
2
0
7
I was given 2 white leghorns for my birthday a couple of weeks ago from my delightful son,i was totally surprised lol. I love them,
after a week one of them started to lay not sure which one,a couple of days ago I got a soft one,ive not had an egg for a couple of days and now a bit worried.
please can anyone help
 
It's not unusual to get a soft egg now and then. Especially when they first start laying. If it happens alot, then somethings going on. One of my hens was laying 2 soft eggs a day. I kept thinking it was a calcium deficit. But adding more calcium didn't help. After a ton of more research and ruling out diseases, I figured it was maybe a vitamin or protein deficiency. So, I started giving her a little unsweetened yogurt with a few pieces of cat food every day. Not much, just a small handful. Sometimes mixing in pumpkin or butternut squash instead of yogurt. My cats food is grain free and the yogurt is organic. She lays perfect eggs as long as I give her this. If I skip a couple of days, I end up with soft eggs again. The vet can't figure it out, so I just keep giving her this. I've been doing this for about 4 months now and it's working great and she seems healthy and happy.
 
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Glad you joined us!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Occasionally soft egg shells happen. Especially is these are young or very old layers. Make sure to keep some oystershell on the side at all times and keep it near the food and water. They won't go looking for it. Keep them on a good layer feed diet and go easy on the goodies. If they don't eat enough of their layer feed, which has a high calcium content, they can lay softies.

As long as this is not a habit from an adult bird, there is nothing much to worry about. Young layers need to time for their egg laying machines to get into gear.

Good luck with your new birds and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on Fowl Mamma and TwoCrow's advice. Definitely keep a pan of crushed oyster shell near their feed. They will only eat it when they need the calcium. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting many more eggs.
 

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