should I worry? saw her lay a shell-less egg...

[gretchen]

So I've been having egg "issues" 2 of my ladies were the first in their group to lay at 18 weeks (all are 24 now), they were consistent, laying pretty much everyday. Then one of my EE's started laying, so I got 3 a day. Then nothing.... found soft shells under the roost, then nothing for 3 days, then blue double yolker. My EE giving me one a day, nothing from the other 2 for a week. Yesterday I found a soft shell in the yard (brown). So today one of the brown layers is seeming , for lack of a better description, puffy and holding her wings a little low, so I watched her for a while. She separated herself from the group, went off by herself, squatted and I watched egg white come out of her rear, then a perfect yolk... plop right on the ground. She then pooped on it, of course, but seemed to still want to get something out... she kind of kept the same pose... squatting and seeming uncomfortable. She went into the coop with the others at dusk and settled in, she was right in the middle of the roost when I shut them in for the night but what is going on? The shells are hard on the EEs eggs and were on hers, I'm giving them light, they have layers rations and scraps, they free range.... HEELLLPPPP!

 

[hipmarye]

I'm sure a science lesson is of little use, but ...

The chicken egg starts as an egg yolk inside a hen. A yolk produced by the hen's ovary.
The yolk is released into the oviduct, where it can be fertilized internally by a sperm. The yolk continues down the oviduct (whether or not it is fertilized) and is covered with a membrane, structural fibers, and layers of albumin (the egg white). As the egg goes down through the oviduct, it is continually rotating within the spiraling tube. This movement twists the structural fibers, which form rope-like strands that anchor the yolk in the thick egg white. There are two chalazae anchoring each yolk, on opposite ends of the egg. The eggshell is deposited around the egg in the lower part of the oviduct of the hen, just before it is laid. The shell is made of calcite, a crystalline form of calcium carbonate. This entire trip through the oviduct takes about twenty-six hours.

... maybe it will give you an idea of where the problem is taking place.

Here's a link that probably has more info.

http://rurality.blogspot.com/2006/09/egg-without-shell.html

 

[hcammack]

give them oyster shells for calcium

Henry

 

[gretchen]

Oyster shell is available, and other shells are hard as little rocks...

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Their reproductive cycle hasn't matured yet; early on you will see double yolks and soft-shell eggs. My current flock, which just started laying, have all been normal but small eggs which I prefer and will enjoy while it last, they fit perfectly in the egg poacher without over spilling.