Soft Egg? Possible Egg Eating?

[WyattsChickens]

I went out to lock up the chicken in the coop as I do every night, and I noticed what appeared to be a mushroom or a leaf in the nest with her that she was pecking at. Upon picking it up it was a soft egg. Literally the same thing as a real egg except it was soft, almost rubbery. It was completely intact other than a small hole where my hen pecked it open. She's never eaten eggs before, we've always got one every day or so and no evidence of eating. Please help! Thank you!

P.s. Our other chicken died about 2 weeks ago from an unknown illness I suspect. Weird behavior for several days, followed by death. However the current hen seems quite healthy.

We also just recently about 2 days ago introduced her to a new happy hen treat "mealworm frenzy" could that be a factor?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Most hens will occasionally lay a soft egg, so it can be normal, and hens will often eat them to clean up the nest, I wouldn't worry about egg eating unless they are breaking and eating hard shelled eggs.

 

[Jesusfreak101]

I sometimes they just like pecking at things to see if they can eat it. My girls when we collect eggs peck at them in the basket just enough to check them out not enough to do any damage. But if they in the nesting boxes (the eggs) they do not mess with them after they have been laid.

 

[lynx04]

I had this problem. It is my understanding that soft eggs are the result of two thing: not enough calcium and/or Vitamin D in the diet. Put out oyster shells for the calcium and add Poly-Vi-Sol without iron (baby vitamins sold at the drugstore) to their water. I haven't seen any dosage instructions for the Poly-vi-sol, so I add 1 dropperful/gallon of water and it has been working fine.

Re: the egg eating. Realize that eggs attract predators. When an egg breaks the chickens go nuts eating it and it occurred to me that they probably developed a taste for their own eggs as a protection mechanism.

I hope this helps. I'm fairly new at this myself.