Tonight right before chicken bed time, I had one hens that has just recently started laying, acting funny. She was just kinda standing there while all the other girls were going into the coop. When I went over to her she bent down like to poo and some white looking stuff came out. Not alot just a little trickle. So I picked her up to take her in so I could see better when all of the sudden a gush of water like stuff came out. I ran into the garage put her in the cage and as soon as I got her in she laid a soft shelled egg. After that she acted ok and went into the coop. I know chickens can lay soft shelled eggs especially when they are just getting going but what worries me is the gush of liquid before. here are some pic of the egg and what it looked like when i opened it. this is next to one of their regular eggs this is what it looked like open note almost all yolk
Don't be alarmed! One of my hens went through this a while back. For about a week she layed soft eggs, and at times she looked pretty bad. I gave a lot of crushed oyster shells for calcium and kept her vent area clean. Within a week she got better and starded laying nice hard shelled eggs.
Thanks guys thats what I thought but it just scared me with the gushing of fluid. Also today we had a duck taken by what we think may have been an owl either late last night or early this morning. Was wondering if maybe the hens saw it happen and that could have caused it too. I give them oyster shells free choice but daughter has been giving them lots of treats here lately. Told her tonight no more treats for awhile and I think I will mix the oyster shell in with their food for awhile.
I'll bet the owl frightened your birds, but it surely didn't cause your bird to lay a soft shell egg. As the others said, it's completely normal. I also wouldn't stop the treats, your birds probably love them. The shells will firm up over the next few days, maybe even by tomorrow. Keep with the oyster shell though. Sorry about your duck. It must be hard not knowing what happened to it.
I have 12 ISA Brown pullets who have been laying since mid-July... most of them, anyway. I get between 8-11 eggs every day, between 8am and 3pm. A couple times a week I get the same soft shelled egg you're getting, and I've been told it's a beginning laying pullet whose plumbing is getting started. Not all the pullets did this; some have been laying hard shelled eggs since day 1. I'm not sure if that explanation is accurate for all hens, but the girls are certainly individuals!
