Soft Egg Shell

[Penny 123]

One of our hens has laid an egg with a very soft almost transparent egg shell. Can anyone tell me what the problem is?

 

[Y N dottes]

is she a very young layer? hens that just start laying will often lay a few irregular eggs before they get the system down.....
even hens that have been laying for a while might accidently lay a soft egg shell out of nowhere.
Giving them something to boost there calcium intake might prevent them from laying soft shelled eggs. oysin ter shells mixed their feed works well

 

[earlybird10842]

is she a very young layer? hens that just start laying will often lay a few irregular eggs before they get the system down.....
even hens that have been laying for a while might accidently lay a soft egg shell out of nowhere.
Giving them something to boost there calcium intake might prevent them from laying soft shelled eggs. oysin ter shells mixed their feed works well

Older layers will do this also.

 

[Penny 123]

She is about 2yrs. old. We give them oyster shell already. Maybe it was just one of those fluke things that happens!!

Thanks for answering my question.

 

[earlybird10842]

She is about 2yrs. old. We give them oyster shell already. Maybe it was just one of those fluke things that happens!!

Thanks for answering my question.

Yeah, they do that sometimes.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Sometimes if they run out of water or have been scared away from the water from other flock-mates it can happen. I noticed when my hens got worms, the lay funky eggs, because the worms are . Or unfortunately, it can be a respiratory disease affecting her shell gland.

If it is normal tomorrow on, it could have been a flunk.

 

[Penny 123]

She has laid about 4 days in a row and they were all soft. I guess we will have to worm them. They usually eat the oyster shell we have out for them but maybe she isn't eating any. They have plenty of water around. I don't know if she is getting scared away or not. We will have to keep a close eye on them. Thanks for the advise. It's still all new to us!!

 

[CHICKEN CRAZY1]

Yeah. Even though she has oyster shell,she may not be getting any.Is she low in the pecking order? Other chickens may not let her have any.

 

[JerseyGiantfolk]

Yeah. Even though she has oyster shell,she may not be getting any.Is she low in the pecking order? Other chickens may not let her have any.

Just was I was thinking. Clues of not eating are green poops and any food in her crop (which is located in her chest area).

 

[stevetone]

What is the calcium content of the feed you are giving her? She needs a minimum of 4% to replace the calcium she is using to produce an egg shell.

Phosphorus is needed as well, in proper proportion to the calcium.

Oyster shell is great as an additional source of calcium, but it is crushed and dissolved very slowly in the gizzard and is not meant to be the primary source of calcium.

I have had some disagree with me on this, but in my opinion the primary calcium source should be the feed, not the supplement.

BTW, excess "treats" such as scratch grain lowers the overall calcium consumed, possibly below required levels.