pullet laying soft eggs daily.

[chriseagan]

Hello this is my first go at backyard chickens and i have 4 barred rock pullets, 24-25 weeks , they have been laying for about 3 weeks but i have one girl who in the last two days has laid two soft shell eggs outside of the coop the first had a rubbery shell and the second had less shell .
I feed them layer feed and oyster shell, all the other girls lays with concrete like shells this has started accruing in the last two days that i know of , the last 4 days here have been in the mid to high 90's with humidity, can the heat have something to do it ?. I've taken precations for mites , clean the coop and run twice weekly dust with DE and i see no worms in there poop .
Does anyone have any idea of what could be my girlas problem ,
Oh and all 4 have excellent energy and what id say spunk.

 

[Virus]

Interesting, I have one barred rock hen who has laid her most recent eggs on the ground and they have also been soft and deformed. I'm just as confused as you are, she was the first to lay and it was hard as concrete and she even laid it in the nest box. I'm beginning to think she may have a faulty shell organ (I don't think its called a shell organ) They are young though mine is around the same age as yours but mine has been doing this for a few weeks and she's even laid a few without shells at all. I'm hoping that with time she'll sort herself out I'd really hate to have to get rid of her for something like this.

 

[chriseagan]

I'm baffled im hoping it has something to do with the heat.
I wont get rid of her though. Im to attached to all 4

 

[Toddrick]

Hmmm, I'd try feeding them some crushed egg shell.

 

[MeepBeep]

Could simply be heat stress, chickens eat less when it's hot, thus the nutrient and protein levels can fall below what is needed to produce eggs properly...

 

[Virus]

Its possible it could have something to do with the heat, from what I've read chickens prefer a mild temp. Barred rocks are usually black with white stripes so their dark colors probably effects them. The weather has been hot and humid which may make the egg shells softer.

 

[chriseagan]

Well this morning when i was putting the frozen bottles that i use to keep the coop cool in the coop there was another soft shelled egg in the run and that was around 5:30 am,
The temps here today dropped 10 degrees kind of a mild day .
I'll see how they do this weekend the heat and humidity is suppose to decrease for the next 4 days then back to the mid 90's by next weekend.

I did get two solid eggs when i got home from work . But prior to the heat up this week i was getting a 3 a day 2 a day cycle .
We'll see .
A question though does eating shells make them eat their own eggs or if they eat the soft shells that i dont find in time make them egg hungry ?
Thanks for the advice.

 

[MeepBeep]

Yes, if you feed them back 'unprocessed' shells if they put two and two together that they are eggs they can start pecking or eating their own eggs...

I don't bother recycling shells that often as it's not really worth the money, but when I have, I baked them for a bit in the oven, then ground them up in a food processor...

 

[Toddrick]

I always just rinse any batter off the shells and crumble them up by hand. I never want them to taste raw egg, because that's what I fear might make them egg eaters. I would be far more concerned about egg eating when a thin shelled egg breaks in the nesting box, or an egg is laid without a shell.

 

[blacktail]

I don't think it's anything to worry about. in the hot weather mine don't really lay good eggs but as soon as it gets cool again they are back to normal and also they layed them in the flower beds until it was cool. Good luck.