soft egg

[mags5]

I have one chicken, not sure which one, but about every 3 days she lays a very soft egg. It either breaks when she lays or I break it trying to pick it up. She is the only one having trouble. What else can I do,beside giving them the feed that has calcium in it?

 

[Shades of Blue]

I feed free choice oyster shell. You hen just might need a bit more than what is in the feed.

 

[Blackcrest]

I was told to feed them grounded up egg shells. I don't know if that works. but my one girl layed a soft egg a few time and I did this and haven't had a soft egg since. of course I just figured out that they need so many hours of light to even lay eggs.

 

[TweeTea]

I use ground egg shells too. But you can also get soft shells if a bird is scared and lays her egg prematurely.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

If they are pullets still then soft shelled eggs is normal. Some birds take a month or so of laying before their reproductive system is fully developed. Strange things can occur like no shells, no yolks and even an egg inside another egg or two eggs attached to one another.

It could be that one girl is only laying every three days and all her first eggs have soft shells. Layer feed has enough calcium and likely the problem will resolve itself in another week. But adding egg shells back to the flock is fine and easy. We'd just microwave the shells after use for a minute on high to sterilize them then store in a container until a decent supply then lay them on a cookie tin and using a dough roller turn them into pieces.

 

[Shades of Blue]

If they are pullets still then soft shelled eggs is normal. Some birds take a month or so of laying before their reproductive system is fully developed. Strange things can occur like no shells, no yolks and even an egg inside another egg or two eggs attached to one another.

It could be that one girl is only laying every three days and all her first eggs have soft shells. Layer feed has enough calcium and likely the problem will resolve itself in another week. But adding egg shells back to the flock is fine and easy. We'd just microwave the shells after use for a minute on high to sterilize them then store in a container until a decent supply then lay them on a cookie tin and using a dough roller turn them into pieces.

I had a pullet egg with no yolk and an egg with a tiny egg inside of it...and then it all corrected like you mentioned.

 

[Orchard Farm]

maybe she is too young?

 

[Orchard Farm]

can it be a disease?

 

[sumi]

Some diseases like Bronchitis causes soft shell eggs, yes. But it could be this hen is still sorting out her productive system. There is also some cases where the hen just can't absorb the calcium needed from her food, but that is rare.

 

[lbrtyldy]

I'm hoping it's nothing because I get about one egg a day like that (out of about 50).