Soft Shell eggs- I need help!

[Rese78]

Hi all,

I need some advice. I have 4 young bantam hens. We got our first little egg about 3 weeks ago and ended up with 4 over a 2 week period and then nothing.....

Yesterday I went to check on them and noticed they were trying to eat an egg that had no shell....just a soft white membrane...i shooed them away and removed all traces of the egg so they couldn’t eat it.

I really need advice as I don’t know what to do. They haven’t tried to crack any hard eggs open....

 

[SueT]

It is probably not to worry.
Yes, chickens will almost always eat the occasional soft egg, and not become egg eaters. Soft shell eggs can happen with new layers.

 

[MissChick@dee]

It happens. Good thing you picked it up. You don’t want them to get a taste for eggs then you’d have a whole different problem.
Provide oyster shell. Just keep a bowl of it by their feeder.
If it’s a once in a blue moon kind of thing don’t worry. Hens might have a hiccup in their cycle every once in a while.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Are you offering oyster to them buy the large bags like 40 lb as it is cheap the little ones are spendy

 

[chickengeorgeII]

… We got our first little egg about 3 weeks ago and ended up with 4 over a 2 week period and then nothing..... I really need advice as I don’t know what to do....

Soft shelled eggs can be the result of [1] a new pullet just starting out, [2] insufficient calcium, or [3] the aftermath of serious chicken diseases. Newcastle Disease, and Infectious Bronchitis are likely the two worst actors here.

Good luck but if your birds continue laying soft-shelled eggs your problem is likely scenario #3.