Hello all, I recently added 8 pullets to my flock. 4 black sex link and 4 gold star. They are about 20 weeks old. They are free ranging with my adult reds and seem to be doing well togather in the coop after a week or so of the roo and adult hens beating them down a bit. Today when I went out for my first egg collection I found in one of the nesting boxes an egg that was so soft it collapsed and another that looked like a shriveled up light brown large prune. I'm wondering , as I'm a newbie, could these be coming from the 20 week year olds and is this normal when they first start laying? A little back ground in the past week or two. To start my flock has 24/7 access to all the 16% layer pellets and crumble they want. That have access 24/7 to fresh cool artisian well water. Two weeks ago I had a fox attack a hen in the middle off the day and was fortunate enough to be around the corner when it happened outside and he only injured her. I have her in a separate pen up a the house nursing her back to health and she is doing really well. That fox was chased down that afternoon and died from lead poisoning. The girls were a little shacken and egg laying dropped a bit for a few days but went back to normal. After being cooped up for a bit i let them out again after I added the 8 pullets. They have been doing fine but unfortunately the fox had family and another fox attacked last Saturday when I was not outside. This time the fox won. He killed one of my adult reds and one of the of the gold star pullets. My dogs got him off the birds so I was able to get the bodies before he ate them. I have not yet introduced lead into his diet so the girls are again cooped up. The coop is roomy and has fans running on warmer days. They spent a lot of time in the coop being from northern mn so copping them up is not a stressful issue for them. The coop also has a large sand pit so the only thing thing they would miss is greens. I give them plenty of fresh fruits and veggie greens when they are cooped. Any ideas on why and or whom may have laid those bad eggs? Any thoughts would be appreciated. My girls have never laid soft eggs before and then 2 in the same nest on the same morning is odd. Thank you in advance.
It can easily be the new birds. It takes a bit to get their reproductive tracts properly working. Do they also have oyster shell or some other calcium source in a separate container? How old were the new birds when they were switched to layer feed?
They were about 18 weeks when they fully started on the same diet as the adult hens. I use the purina products. It's a little more money but they all seem to do well on it. I don't supplement oyster shells as the purina bag say it has the shells already mixed in. My current layers have really nice hard shells all the time on it. I assumed the pullets would be fine also. If I need to get some oyster shells I certainly can I just don't want the current layers getting shells any harder or we will have to use a hammer to crack them LOL They get a lot kale when cooped also which they love.