For some time now I've been having problems with one hen laying a soft shelled egg. Rarely, it will still be whole until I pick it up and smash it myself (unexpectedly!). After reading through some comments about egg eating, I'm possitive the hen is not breaking the egg (since the shell is so soft) I'm going to try deleting or only in very small amounts, allowing them to have treats/scratch grains to see if it makes a difference. the oyster shell is always available to them but as added measure will put some in their feed supply also to see if it makes a difference. I have had all hard shells before but now it is daily. Any one have a comment or experience with this? Any articles that I have read said once you figure out which hen, to eliminate her as she will not stop. Fortunately for her, she's here for the long run. Once you name them..........Thanks
Assuming you feed regular layer feed??? And you offer oyster shell on the side already. Unless you're just feeding a ton of treats/scratch, I doubt that's the cause - a handful scattered about once or twice a day shouldn't interfere- only if you're feeding so much that they're filling up on "fluff" rather than their layer feed. Sometimes the egg organs can fail for unkown reasons (organ disease?), just like heart failure or kidney failure. So that's a possibility. Or it could just be a glitch that will self-correct. Hopefully it's just that, and she'll be back to normal soon.
Is she getting older? My GLW hen's eggs got thinner and thinner as she aged. The shells were difficult to pick up about the time she mostly stopped laying, about 5 years old. They were thin, not soft. Imp
