Pullet laying questions

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi all,
It seems like our girls are all getting in the mood to lay, but I have a few more questions that I don't know if there is cause for concern.
1. Our Easter Egger Rose laid her first egg last night before bed, but it looked like it was a soft shell egg. It was pretty collapsible but did look like it tried to have color. I watched her lay it.. she was just walking real slow with her wings down and then dropped it on the floor. Is the soft shell a reason for concern? Below are the best pics I could get of her.
View attachment 1095365 at point of trying to lay
View attachment 1095371 at point of lay
View attachment 1095370 after she recovered a bit and went into the run
View attachment 1095366 The egg

2. When I was in the run this morning, I looked down at a pretty good sized poo and said "Is that a piece of nest box shavings?"... Oh wait, it was a piece of poo with a shriveled up no-shelled egg. Before I could pack it off, of the girls grabbed it and made off with it. When I picked it up, it was like an empty inside of the egg.. just the membrane all shriveled up. I have no idea which hen pooped it, because I wasn't out there for that. Is that something I need to worry about?

Both 1&2 are entirely normal in new layers and aren't anything to be concerned about at this point. This is just their systems getting all the moving parts up and running and coordinated with one another to complete the rather amazing process of building an egg

 

[GC-Raptor]

Hi all,
It seems like our girls are all getting in the mood to lay, but I have a few more questions that I don't know if there is cause for concern.
1. Our Easter Egger Rose laid her first egg last night before bed, but it looked like it was a soft shell egg. It was pretty collapsible but did look like it tried to have color. I watched her lay it.. she was just walking real slow with her wings down and then dropped it on the floor. Is the soft shell a reason for concern? Below are the best pics I could get of her.
View attachment 1095365 at point of trying to lay
View attachment 1095371 at point of lay
View attachment 1095370 after she recovered a bit and went into the run
View attachment 1095366 The egg

2. When I was in the run this morning, I looked down at a pretty good sized poo and said "Is that a piece of nest box shavings?"... Oh wait, it was a piece of poo with a shriveled up no-shelled egg. Before I could pack it off, of the girls grabbed it and made off with it. When I picked it up, it was like an empty inside of the egg.. just the membrane all shriveled up. I have no idea which hen pooped it, because I wasn't out there for that. Is that something I need to worry about?

No. You'll get a few soft shelled and malformed eggs, in the first month of laying from some pullets. GC

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

Both 1&2 are entirely normal in new layers and aren't anything to be concerned about at this point. This is just their systems getting all the moving parts up and running and coordinated with one another to complete the rather amazing process of building an egg

No. You'll get a few soft shelled and malformed eggs,View attachment 1095391 in the first month of laying from some pullets. GC

Thank you both for your quick responses. It has turned into a 3 ring circus around as our oldest son badly broke his arm and is having surgery tomorrow and both of our girls are down with the stomach flu! Knowing this is one less thing I need to worry about it a relief!

 

[Patinas]

As a first time chicken mom, I too have had some strange egg laying behaviors over the past weeks. Only 5 of my 20 are laying at this point but some of the key behaviors I've noted before they started laying are:

1. Running around inside the coop squawking constantly.
2. Getting up on the roost bars during the day and squawking which normally, they only get up on them inside the coop in the evening. Also squatting on the poop trays.
3. Walking (and again squawking) in front of the nest boxes and checking them out.
4. Sitting quietly in a nest box for as much as a week before actually laying an egg.

Expect lots of different behaviors and eggs to show up during this time. I've seen lots of soft or no shell yolks dropped on poop trays overnight, a couple eggs laid in the run, perfect eggs, extra large and extra small eggs, eggs with wrinkled shells, spotted shells, etc. It can be unnerving for first time flock raisers! I know it was for me initially but now it's just par for the course and understanding they just need time to sort it out.

Out of the 5 that are laying, two are total drama queens about it while the other 3 are really quiet about it and just get in a box, get it done and hop back out. With 15 left to go, days of egg abnormalities and squawking are far from over but once I figured it all out and stopped expecting perfection for every egg laid, it's kind of exciting as each one starts laying! It has taken my hen that was the first to lay, almost a month ago, to start laying nice shelled eggs consistently and they've gotten huge since the initial ones, almost always double yolkers.

Have patience and keep in mind this is as new to them as getting chickens was to me!

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

As a first time chicken mom, I too have had some strange egg laying behaviors over the past weeks. Only 5 of my 20 are laying at this point but some of the key behaviors I've noted before they started laying are:

1. Running around inside the coop squawking constantly.
2. Getting up on the roost bars during the day and squawking which normally, they only get up on them inside the coop in the evening. Also squatting on the poop trays.
3. Walking (and again squawking) in front of the nest boxes and checking them out.
4. Sitting quietly in a nest box for as much as a week before actually laying an egg.

Expect lots of different behaviors and eggs to show up during this time. I've seen lots of soft or no shell yolks dropped on poop trays overnight, a couple eggs laid in the run, perfect eggs, extra large and extra small eggs, eggs with wrinkled shells, spotted shells, etc. It can be unnerving for first time flock raisers! I know it was for me initially but now it's just par for the course and understanding they just need time to sort it out.

Out of the 5 that are laying, two are total drama queens about it while the other 3 are really quiet about it and just get in a box, get it done and hop back out. With 15 left to go, days of egg abnormalities and squawking are far from over but once I figured it all out and stopped expecting perfection for every egg laid, it's kind of exciting as each one starts laying! It has taken my hen that was the first to lay, almost a month ago, to start laying nice shelled eggs consistently and they've gotten huge since the initial ones, almost always double yolkers.

Have patience and keep in mind this is as new to them as getting chickens was to me!

Thank you! This is completely comforting