Hi all.
The last few days I've found a VERY thinly shelled egg in the shavings under the roost in the coop. I have a Delaware that is - I think - just starting to lay and may be trying to work out the kinks, figuring things out, etc., but I'm also unsure about the origin of this egg. Is the best course of action to isolate the little Del to see if she lays a soft-shell? This has happened probably 3 of the last 5 days and probably 7 of the last 14 days and is a little concerning to me. The last round of new birds didn't lay nearly this number of soft shells before they got straightened out and started laying hard shell eggs. Is this normal for most birds to take this long to straighten out?
If it's not the Del, could I have a feed problem, lack of minerals, or some other malady? I don't supplement calcium because our feed has a good supply of it (4% I think) and have never had a problem with soft shells before now. To the contrary, their shells are usually so hard that it's hard to crack them on the side of the bowl/pan, so this is a little puzzling.
Any insight would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.
The last few days I've found a VERY thinly shelled egg in the shavings under the roost in the coop. I have a Delaware that is - I think - just starting to lay and may be trying to work out the kinks, figuring things out, etc., but I'm also unsure about the origin of this egg. Is the best course of action to isolate the little Del to see if she lays a soft-shell? This has happened probably 3 of the last 5 days and probably 7 of the last 14 days and is a little concerning to me. The last round of new birds didn't lay nearly this number of soft shells before they got straightened out and started laying hard shell eggs. Is this normal for most birds to take this long to straighten out?
If it's not the Del, could I have a feed problem, lack of minerals, or some other malady? I don't supplement calcium because our feed has a good supply of it (4% I think) and have never had a problem with soft shells before now. To the contrary, their shells are usually so hard that it's hard to crack them on the side of the bowl/pan, so this is a little puzzling.
Any insight would be helpful.
Thanks in advance.