Soft shell eggs

[wild chick]

About once a week I find a soft shelled egg in the sand under the roost. Soft, like you can squish it but it holds the egg inside, or it is broken upon landing. I have Wyandottes (gold & silver), they all lay similar color eggs so I never know who laid what. I feel sure it is just one hen doing this, and if it's just one hen, I don't think it's diet. They have free choice feed, plus oyster grit free choice and they free range on 5 acres from dawn til dusk. All the hens are 14 months and have been laying since last December. I've found a soft shell egg at least 2 - 3 times per month since they started laying. Do you think this hen is laying normal eggs too, or is this hen just not ever going to be right? I have let two hens go broody and raise chicks, so I only know it's one of the other hens. I have 8 hens, 1 roo, plus the littles that were hatched this summer.

 

[PD-Riverman]

About once a week I find a soft shelled egg in the sand under the roost. Soft, like you can squish it but it holds the egg inside, or it is broken upon landing. I have Wyandottes (gold & silver), they all lay similar color eggs so I never know who laid what. I feel sure it is just one hen doing this, and if it's just one hen, I don't think it's diet. They have free choice feed, plus oyster grit free choice and they free range on 5 acres from dawn til dusk. All the hens are 14 months and have been laying since last December. I've found a soft shell egg at least 2 - 3 times per month since they started laying. Do you think this hen is laying normal eggs too, or is this hen just not ever going to be right? I have let two hens go broody and raise chicks, so I only know it's one of the other hens. I have 8 hens, 1 roo, plus the littles that were hatched this summer.

I find one of those too----maybe once a month with 100 layers at different ages---stages----If I was getting one often I would try to find out if its coming from the same hen---if it was---then I would decide how to handle it.

 

[wild chick]

Thanks for the reply - It just seems like it must be one chicken that doesn't make adequate shells on a regular basis. Trying to figure out if this is very common - You have one in 100, I have one out of 8. Not really worth isolating each hen to find out who it is.

 

[PD-Riverman]

Thanks for the reply - It just seems like it must be one chicken that doesn't make adequate shells on a regular basis. Trying to figure out if this is very common - You have one in 100, I have one out of 8. Not really worth isolating each hen to find out who it is.

That's about 1 a month for a 100 layers----that's about 1 in 3000 eggs---Maybe, but I have layers at a lot of different ages---all separated in different pens by age.

It would be worth it to me if it was happening often----to separate enough to find which one----so I could try different feedings/calcium to see if she continued so I would know whether to keep her or not.

 

[wild chick]

...and for my science mind, I would love to know - one hen with a problem? three hens with deficiency? But, I'm a small back yard operation just for fun & eggs and some meat interest. I love the hens and probably wouldn't get rid of one for this problem, but I don't want any of her eggs under the broody either. And tonight I found a broken egg (hard shell, but not rock hard) in the egg nest. So... back to square one. Find out who it is? If it's more than one hen I'll just be sick... but that's why I post here on byc - to learn.

 

[Bhapimama]

I'm curious about the soft shell phenomenon as well. I have a Barred Rock who just started laying. 3 soft shells to start, then 3 normal eggs in a row and then one soft shell yesterday. This morning a normal one.
Certainly not scientific evidence but a couple people recommended yogurt to restore calcium. I started her on the yogurt after the first three soft shells and right away she started laying normal eggs. Maybe just a coincidence, but I skipped yogurt one day and the next day we got another soft shell.
Another factor that may be affecting my girl is that, until today my chickens were still on "Growing Crumble", on advice from the cashier at the feed store. These are my first chickens and they're just now 20 wks old. They were around 17 wks when I bought that last bag of crumble. The cashier recommended one more bag and then move up to the layers blend. Well today I dumped the half a bag of crumble that was left out for the wild birds and I switched my girls to the layers pellets. For now, I'm going to keep up the daily yogurt until hopefully there are no more soft shelled eggs.... We shall see.

 

[wild chick]

@Bhapimama - I had more soft shells when mine were in their first month or two of laying, plus they started laying in December, so I forgave it as dark winter months and not very mature. But now at over a year old and laying for 9 months, I consider it abnormal. I do mix a spoon of plain organic yogurt in their treat mix about 3 x week.

 

[MommaHen2Many]

Hi, Check out this article on "eggs"...it covers all the different issues that could cause soft / ie no-shell eggs. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/ It will help you decide if her eggs can be used for future hatches...if its genetic, you probably dont want to pass it on to your future flock.
This is what it says:
10. Shell-less eggs
A shell less egg consists of a yolk, albumen and membrane, but has no shell at all. The egg contents are protected by the outer membrane only. These are often seen in pullets coming into lay. Causes are:
- Immature shell gland (young layer);
- Nutritional deficiency, usually lack of calcium and vitamins E, B12 and D as well as phosphorous and selenium;
- Certain diseases, such as Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, avian influenza, egg drop syndrome;
- Exposure to very high temperatures and extremely high or low humidity levels;
- An infestation of internal or external parasites, such as worms, mites or lice;
- Stress prompting the hen to lay an egg prematurely, before the shell is formed;
- Egg laying while molting;
- Exposure to toxins, such as mold, fungi, bacteria.

 

[wild chick]

Thanks @MommaHen2Many! My intuition is telling me Bonnie Blue, and your list cinched it for me. She's on the bottom of the pecking order, a loner (5 acres of free range and I see her by herself well over half the day, and she is sometimes still out at dark when I go to shut the coop up) and the rooster favorite (because she won't ever say no). So that would fit into the Stress description. She is timid about going to the nest boxes if other hens are in there, so maybe that's why she "lays" from the roost pre-dawn. There are 3 boxes for the 8 hens and even when there is an empty nest she is reluctant to get in it next to another hen. She won't get off her nest if she is there first and another hen looks at her. (They seem to regard nest boxes as off limits for pecking order, which is nice.) She is almost always alone at one end of the roost at night, unless the rooster happens to be on that board, but mostly he's on the top one. He's the only one to let her sleep close to him. There are 4 two-month old chicks that are now on their own in the flock and I thought maybe she would find a friend, but no, she pecks at them on the roost if they get too close. Go figure. And yes, I have to make sure none of her eggs get in with the broody next year!

 

[Bhapimama]

Hi, Check out this article on "eggs"...it covers all the different issues that could cause soft / ie no-shell eggs. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/ It will help you decide if her eggs can be used for future hatches...if its genetic, you probably dont want to pass it on to your future flock.
This is what it says:
10. Shell-less eggs
A shell less egg consists of a yolk, albumen and membrane, but has no shell at all. The egg contents are protected by the outer membrane only. These are often seen in pullets coming into lay. Causes are:
- Immature shell gland (young layer);
- Nutritional deficiency, usually lack of calcium and vitamins E, B12 and D as well as phosphorous and selenium;
- Certain diseases, such as Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, avian influenza, egg drop syndrome;
- Exposure to very high temperatures and extremely high or low humidity levels;
- An infestation of internal or external parasites, such as worms, mites or lice;
- Stress prompting the hen to lay an egg prematurely, before the shell is formed;
- Egg laying while molting;
- Exposure to toxins, such as mold, fungi, bacteria.

Thanks - I will def read that article