Soft eggs, will she ever lay normally?

[Hanetreetjie]

We have a Australorp hen, about 1 year old, that has never laid a normal egg. We got them in June this year, all the other Australorp hens which are the same age, are all laying perfect eggs.

For the last few weeks, once a week, we would find a broken (after being stood on) soft shelled egg on the poo board in the morning

In the last 4 days she has made 2, the last one stayed whole so we could take photos of it. Is this something that happens to new layers, will it ever come right. They are all on the same layer feed.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

This is her on the left



The egg

 

[iwiw60]

What type of feed are you giving your girls? Do you have a container of oyster shell available at all times? I have BA's, too, and one of mine, only occasionally, will lay a soft-shell/shell-less egg. I keep oyster shell in their own feed tube available at all times...they will eat it as they need it....


You might also give them some hard boiled eggs smashed up, shell and all, this will give them extra protein.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Yes, what type of feed are they being given? If laying, birds should be receiving layer feed which is higher in calcium and helps insure strong shells. If you don't feed layer feed, be sure to supplement with a calcium source such as crushed egg shell or oystershell.

New layers do tend to have problems with their eggs, as their reproductive tracts become used to the whole egg laying process. So, her eggs may eventually turn out right.

 

[aart]

At a year old she's not really a 'new layer', which can account for funky eggs...unless they were not as old as you were told they were when you got them.

If all the other birds are laying decent eggs, it could be that this bird has some defect within her reproductive system or in processing calcium.

Or it could be that she is low hen and experiencing some stress that interferes with her egg process.

I like to feed an 'all flock' 20% protein crumble to all ages and genders. Makes life much simpler to store and distribute one type of chow that everyone can eat. I have calcium available at all times for the layers, oyster shell mixed with rinsed, dried, crushed chicken egg shells in a separate container. The higher protein crumble offsets the 8% protein scratch grains and other kitchen/garden scraps I like to offer.