Shell less eggs

[Sarajane330]

I have a young brown leghorn hen who laid her first egg yesterday and it was shell less. Is this normal for young hens or some breeds? They all get layer feed and oyster shells. Plus they free range all day. All of them are healthy and happy.
I just want to make sure I’m doing what I can.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That can happen in New layers. They push the egg out early. Probably because they don't understand what's going on initially.

 

[HappyClucker7]

Yeah, don't worry. This will happen a few times. The shell less eggs will stop after a while.

 

[Sarajane330]

How long do they lay shell less eggs before they start getting hard?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

How long do they lay shell less eggs before they start getting hard?

It's just a glitch. An egg gets fully formed except for the shell fairly quickly. The egg than sits in the shell gland for around 24 hours as the shell gets applied. Stressed hens may push them out early before the shell gets applied, so it depends on the hen.

 

[Sarajane330]

They are teenagers. So I thought it was the age. I asked my aunt who has had chickens before and she said her RIR’s always laid hard egg from the beginning.

 

[aart]

They are teenagers. So I thought it was the age. I asked my aunt who has had chickens before and she said her RIR’s always laid hard egg from the beginning.

What does "teenager" mean?.....give birds age in weeks.
It can take up to a month or so for laying to smooth out.
Some birds never lay soft shelled eggs, others can lay quite a few of them.

 

[briteday]

Any hens laying their first eggs take a bit of time to smooth out. You'll get big eggs, little eggs, no shells, they'll peck their own eggs, step o their own eggs. Give them time.

 

[Mtnchickenmom]

One of my older hens was laying eggs that had really brittle shells and I had to make sure to mix some oyster shell into the feed Everyday so she could eat it from there because for some reason she doesn’t want to go to the bowl I keep in there for them. None of my young hens ever laid shell less eggs

 

[HappyClucker7]

Only one of my hens laid shell less eggs. She laid several of them before her system balanced itself out.