soft shell eggs

[raymaratea]

although our chickens get plenty of Oyster Shells, occassionally they still lay a soft shell egg. What is the cause of this?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

The cause is simply a hiccup. Usually in girls that are just coming into or exiting lay for the season like new pullets or molting hens.

As long as you know they have plenty of oyster shell and isn't being diminished too much by treats, then that would be my suspected cause. The oyster shell gets absorbed into the keel bone before being distributed to the shell gland. A hen will sacrifice her own body before laying softees due to lack of calcium.

Also their might be an occasion when an egg passes through to fast due to a disturbance like a predator or something that maybe startled them. As the season and daylight hours are changing and age can also have an effect. I never hatch from very young or very old hens in order to avoid any fetal issues that might be related to reproductive hiccups.

 

[lazy gardener]

What are you feeding them? Layer? Are they getting much scratch grain? Free range? Much in the way of kitchen scraps? IMO, while calcium is a big part of the shell strength equation, it is only a part. Protein and other vitamin balances also play a crucial role. You might try supplementing them with a multi-vit in addition to their OS. What is the mill date on your feed bag. Old feed is depleted in nutrients. (at 6 weeks, it starts to rapidly degrade.) How old are they? If over a year old, they may be completing a cycle, and have run out of natural reserves. They will take a break, go through a molt, build up their reserves, and then start laying again.

 

[nzchookhaven]

I am receiving one consistant soft egg a day from my large flock, so I don't know which hen it is. However none of my hens are unwell or show any signs of illness. They all receive the same feed; and oyster shell is always available to them in a feeder. I have no idea why this one hen would be laying soft shelled eggs. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this would be happening?

 

[deepbluesea]

I'm having this problem as well, with one of my older girls, a 3 1/2 yr. gold-laced wyandotte. She's been laying shell-less eggs (we call them jelly eggs) for a couple of weeks now. In odd places, not the nest box. They have layer feed, but also access to my younger pullets' starter/grower--could eating that be the problem? They free range and have access to oyster shells. I give treats but on a limited basis--grapes, leftovers, yogurt, etc. She didn't really molt this fall--the other two her age did.

Anything else I can do? I'm not getting any eggs from anyone, and that hasn't been the case this early in the fall.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

 

[junebuggena]

There could be a few reasons for shell-less eggs. Pullets that are just starting to lay commonly lay shell-less eggs due to immaturity. Hens that are just about to stop laying due to molt or brooding may lay shell-less eggs, and they may also produce those eggs as they are just starting back up. It could also be stress. Hens that consistently lay shell-less eggs may have a defective shell gland or may not be able to absorb calcium properly.

 

[deepbluesea]

They did have a predator scare about a month ago--everyone was ok, but very freaked out. So maybe she'll calm down and lay regular eggs? Could it take this long to get over the stress? Thanks!