Hi joscon,
sometimes when a bird comes into lay there can be glitches. Usually they clear up. However persistent soft shelled eggs are dangerous (they can break inside, leading to peritonitis) and painful for the bird to lay (nothing to push against).
It may be that she hasn't learned to eat shell grit yet, in which case you might try adding it to a mash just to see if that helps. But if this goes on longer than a week or so, there are a few other things that cause soft eggshells, so I'll list the ones I know in case any of them gives you an idea.
- not enough vitamin D (sunlight, cod liver oil) to enable calcium absorption
- intestinal issue leading to malabsorption (enteritis, worms, algae in the water)
- too much calcium fed to a young bird that isn't laying yet (harms later calcium uptake), e.g. being on layer food while still growing
- wrong mineral balance, e.g. feeding too much phosphorus or magnesium compared to calcium (e.g. feeding bone meal, milk, or dolomite)
- egg drop syndrome (triggered by a virus)
- damage to shell gland from certain respiratory diseases etc
The best tactic if it doesn't clear up with any of the easy treatments (vitamin D, mineral rebalance, clean water, maybe some probiotics) is to force a moult (reduce daylight, feed low protein e.g. wheat for a week) and see if her system resets itself.
best wishes, hope this helps you pinpoint what's wrong,
Erica
Edited to add 'longer than a week or so', as this may just be an onset-of-lay glitch...
