Pullet laying soft shelled eggs

[JodiLynn]

I have 4 EE hens that recently started laying. All is going well except 5 or 6 days ago I found an egg right under the roost and the others have been laying in the boxes. It was still in tact and rough to the tough like my other ladies had on their first egg. Day 2 I found another, smooth and normal, egg under the roost broke. Couple of days later I found another egg with a semi-soft shell on top of the boxes. Today I found a really soft egg under the roost again.

Now some of the ones I found under the roost I found around 7 am so I assume she may have laid them while roosting but I cannot be sure. None were eaten just broken like they fell or in the case of the soft one when she laid it.

There are 15 in the pen with 2 roosters. 3 weeks ago we moved them to a covered pen that is HUGE. They were more exposed to the cold so we wrapped it in plastic and made sure to leave a little open at the top for ventilation. The sides are 25 - 30 foot high.
They eat Layena Layer (not sure %) with scratch in the a.m. to warm them up. They also have free access to oyster shell and free-range over 7 acres.

Will this issue work itself out or should I be worried? Thanks!

 

[Rhys1377]

hi there when my chickens first started laying we had the same problem with soft shells we gave the what they call shell grit mixed in with pellets or something it is meant to make the shell stronger and harder hope this helps.

 

[LukensFarms]

This is common in pullets. It should go away in they next couple of weeks. Keep the diet you are using the same.

 

[Happy Chooks]

This is common in pullets. It should go away in they next couple of weeks. Keep the diet you are using the same.

x2. Completely normal for a new layer. It's just their way of their bodies adjusting to the laying process.

 

[lttdoming]

Did this ever work out? My Barred Rock has been laying shelless eggs all week. Her 1st two eggs were like that then she laid beautiful eggs for a few weeks. Now 7 days with soft eggs under the roost. I'm very worried.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Did this ever work out? My Barred Rock has been laying shelless eggs all week. Her 1st two eggs were like that then she laid beautiful eggs for a few weeks. Now 7 days with soft eggs under the roost. I'm very worried.

Does she have oyster shell available?

 

[Sweetest]

I used to feed mine oyster shell, but eventually I stopped buying it. Now we just rinse out our egg shells and when we get quite a good collection of them going, I bake them in the oven, and throw them in the blender to grind them up into tiny pieces. I mix the ground up shells with their feed. Ever since I started doing that, we've only had two shell-less eggs.

 

[lttdoming]

My girls have access to calcium chips and are feed layer pellets. Just all of the sudden she has had about a week of shelless eggs.

The other day she had two under the roost and one had a double yoke.
She is eating fine and acting like her usual self just no real eggs.

I'm very concerned.