soft shelled eggs from roost

[sharol]

I have 7 26 week old pullets. 6 of them are laying. Due to a series of lucky events, I've been able to determine who is laying and who isn't. The sixth layer is either a partridge rock (Misty) or a welsumer (Lisbeth). I believe it to be the Misty since the eggs are a light brown.

Over the last couple of weeks I have found 5 or 6 soft shelled eggs broken or crushed in the shavings under the roost. Some of them have "shells" that are sort of papery and some seem to have no shells at all. I suspect that the Welsumer is laying these from the roost. I checked last night after they were settled in, and the ss egg in the shavings this morning was under where she was roosting when I went to bed.

Is there hope that her laying machinery will straighted out? I'm concerned that one of them will get tangled up inside her and cause a prolapse or something equally bad. Does anyone have any experience with new layers laying this was for a while?

 

[teach1rusl]

MANY new layers have these issues...jello eggs, tissue paper shells, no shells (just yolk, egg white)...some come out while roosting overnight, while others make it to the nest box. These issues generally work themselves out within a few weeks. You can always boost calcium by offering free choice oyster shell. Mine get layer feed (which already has calcium), but some still use the oyster shell as an extra. Even experienced layers can have sporadic issues from time to time..

 

[sharol]

They have free choice oyster shell, and they get mash made from (the hated) layer pellets I bought for them in the mornings. They still want to eat the last of the grower crumbles instead (silly chooks).

Thanks for the reassurance. I really like Lisbeth even though she is a bit stand-offish. I don't like to think about her having problems laying.

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[terrilhb]

I had this happen also. It was when a new hen started laying. I worried something was wrong. But thanks to everyone on here I learned. Good luck