soft shell

[layalittleeggfo]

hi all we hall 6 chickens as far as we know 5 of them have been laying

this morning there were 2 eggs in the box i picked up this 1st and it was fine however when i picked put the second i put my fingers through the shell, i though this may have been because it was very freshly laid, however i have picked them up pretty quick before and thye have been hard if just a little tacky.

now this egg is from 1 of our 2 leghorns, and im pretty sure its neither of their 1st eggs although can not 100% gurantee it


when i got it into the kitchen i cracked it into a pot to check if the egg inside was okay and it was

however even after approx 10 mins the shell was still very soft

in addition to their pellets they have lots of veg, rice pasta basically left over food scraps on a daily basis

there is no rooster and they are all eating and drinking well

they have been wormed and they have had a vitiman

can anyone tell me the reason

thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The shell is always hard long before it comes out of the chicken. It's calcium carbonate and fully formed before color and bloom are applied.

Sometimes it happens occasionally and sometimes it is an individual for whatever reason never has a very hard egg. It is more often with pullets and sometimes battery hens.
If it happens again cut back on the treats so you know the diet is balanced. Treats really shouldn't be more than 10% of the diet.
Providing oyster shell or crumbled egg shells in a separate container allows them to boost their calcium if they feel the need.
Adding organic apple cider vinegar to the water helps them utilize the calcium.

 

[layalittleeggfo]

Thats what i ment when i said vitiman i forgot the name of it but they do have apple cider vin and they are wormed reg

I will try the oyster shell im not sure where I
would get that from, but i will keep an eye on the eggs over the next few days

 

[sumi]

Young hens do sometimes lay soft shell eggs. If they are eating layer pellets they should be getting plenty calcium from that and all the other nutrients they need. Layer pellets are formulated for layers. Just go easy on the treats, so they don't eat too much of that and too little layer food.

 

[layalittleeggfo]

This morning we have had another soft shell same colour as brfore however the egg only had a small soft spot when i collected it this morning. But as time has gone on this morning it has got softer and softer shelled.

We have stopped all treats and food scraps etc. They have been wormed and had apple cidre vinager.

This is the 1st soft shelled egg we have had since i posted this thread so 2nd in total.all other eggs collected have been normal so its spacific to 1 bird i would think

Any other idead?