Soft/Hard eggshell issues

[jehboiler]

I have 8 chickens of various breeds that were given to me by a friend. One of these chickens is laying eggs with issues. Sometimes the eggs are totally soft, end up squished, and get eaten by the "egg-eating" chicken. The rest of the time, this chicken lays "mixed" eggs, both hard and soft. You can see this in the pictures. The egg on the top shows the slightly squished side and the extraordinarily weird "too-much-calcium" end. The other photo shows the weird egg next to a normal egg. This is by far the weirdest egg I have gathered. Sometimes the eggs come out half light green and half dark green. Also, these eggs tend to be larger than the other hens' eggs, and I think she only lays one every other day. I feed Layena, some sunflower seeds, and poultry shell, along with kitchen scraps. They also free-range when possible. Any ideas?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Hi there! This link should help you. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Also, my best guess is that there is a lack of calcium in her diet.

 

[jehboiler]

How do I MAKE a chicken eat the calcium I put out??

 

[Mountain Peeps]

What do you give out? Eggshells, oyster shells, etc??

 

[sumi]

I found my hens will help themselves to whatever calcium source I put out (usually crushed oystershell), as they feel they need it. A good quality layer feed should meet their calcium needs though, as long as they eat enough of it and not too much scratch and treats.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Yeah mine just naturally eat the eggshells too.

 

[jehboiler]

I agree. My other 7 chickens eat the calcium when they need it. I guess I just have an oddball chicken! Maybe she'll grow out of this issue and begin eating the calcium she needs.
Thanks!

 

[jehboiler]

Crushed oyster shell