Soft shell egg

[MountainChickenMama]

I went out this morning to feed my older girls this morning and found a soft shelled egg on the floor of the coop.....I have a total of 8 chickens in the coop, 4 who lay on a regular basis, 2 that are 22 weeks, and 2 that are like 17 weeks.....The color of the egg was a light tan with possible speckles on it (I tried to pick it up and the yolk and stuff just ran right out), my 4 regular girls lay in the nesting boxes...could this be a new layer? The color of the egg doesn't match the eggs they are suppose to lay (1 is a cuckoo maran and 1 is an ameraucana)....Would love your thoughts please....Thanks...

 

[trooper]

I have had my older hens from time to time to lay soft shell eggs.Make sure they are getting enough calcium to give their eggs what they need to get hard.I feed mine the shells and have put a small dish of calcium in their coop so that they have access to it when they need it.Good luck and don't worry yet.It is too early to tell.

 

[MountainChickenMama]

They are on the high protein, non medicated chick food right now, and I get them the shells as well.....The color and shape of the soft shell was not like any other of my regular girls eggs, it was much larger and a different shape...

 

[greymane]

It is not unusual for first eggs to be "unusual". It is very possible it is a first-timer.

 

[MountainChickenMama]

greymane- Thanks, the egg was cold, so I know it wasn't layed today, and my husband put them in last night and he wouldn't have looked at the coop area, so I guess I will just have to wait and see if another is layed again? Will it be soft shelled again??

 

[MountainChickenMama]

Nothing yet today that resembles the one I found this morning.....guess only time will tell....

 

[Ragdollcatlady]

Sometimes what you feed them can affect the shells too. My mom brought over some plain old hot dog buns to feed to our chickens. I try to not even feed our family those types of food products but my mom was trying to be nice and didn't understand my concerns, they are chickens. They eat all our other scraps and compost! So we gave them some. The next day, not even 24 hours later their eggs were all soft, we could still pick them up but it was just the membrane and a soft powdery coating on the outside. The next day they were fine, rock hard as usual! We don't feed them that anymore. I would assume it might do something nearly as sinister in our bodies. If it isn't building health, it's probably destroying it. Any way, that little story aside, on a rare occasion, new layers sometimes give us a goofy egg now and then but never more than one that is soft like that. Hope everyone is well and that you don't anymore squishies
Kat

 

[Silverose]

mine did the same thing a few hours ago. she left it on my steps, she has laid her other two in the nest box. it was in a small puddle and it was squishy like the membrane was only covered with some powdery shell stuff. on a side note- she was a "ameraucauna" (at TSC which I've been told is actually an easter egger) she lays light beige colored eggs. my two others that are laying lay greenish and light blue eggs.

 

[MountainChickenMama]

Haven't had another soft shell, must have been a fluke, how often do new layers leave an egg?

 

[mikensara]

we got 2 soft shelled this morning along with 3 from i guess our usual layers so i am guessing i have 2 pullets that both started laying and havent got the factory parts in proper working order going to see if it improves over the next couple days