soft shell egg

jp57

Chirping
May 1, 2017
133
82
96
Townsend, DE
I have 3 buff orpington and 3 ameraucana hens that are over a year old. I added to the flock 2 barred rock chicks that are 16 weeks old. My son went out to let the girls out this morning and found an egg in one of the nesting boxes that had a soft shell. All of my girls free range. I normally just feed my older girls layer feed, but have been giving them an all flock mix. I have been added layer feed to the all flock since the barred rocks are getting older. I also have been giving them oyster shell which they never touch. Could one of the older ones have laid this, or is there a better chance that one of my egg rookies just didn't get the job done? The older ones consistently lay good eggs and I have never seen a soft shell egg until today.
 
Very hard to say...stress(from the integration) can make for wonky eggs.
When, and how, did you add the new birds?
When, and how, did you change the feed?
Are the oyster shells in a separate container?
Try sprinkling a bit of oyster shell on top of the feed,
and/or try sprinkling a bit of scratch grain on top of the oyster shells.

One way to tell if the 16wo's are laying is to examine their pelvic points.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/who-is-laying-and-who-is-not-butt-check.73309/
 
I added the new birds in a puppy kennel into the run that houses their coop. They were there for about 3 weeks. After that I let them free range together. They seem to move around together ok. They only seem to have issues going into the coop at night. When I started letting them free range together, that is when I switched them to the all flock formula and put the oyster shell in a separate container. In the last two weeks since the barred rocks are getting older, I started filling the feeders with half all flock, and half layer feed.
 

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