Super soft eggs PLEASE HELP!

[brijetterom]

That's what my hens did. As soon as I noticed the Shell-less egg one chicken ran and eat it so quick. This morning I got another shelll-less egg. It was very creepy looking. The shell was not totally around the egg and it was laid on the floor. I fa really figure out what chicken it is.


Lastly, I noticed diarrhea in the coop this am too. I don't know if that's connected to the issue.

 

[azygous]

If a chicken finds an egg on the ground, they will probably peck at it. It's instinct to investigate, with their beaks, anything they run across on the ground.

That this hen laid a soft-shelled egg the same day as earlier laying a normal egg does indicate she may be having egg issues. I had a girl once become egg-bound, laid it after a warm soak, then an hour later, laid a soft-shelled egg. She went on the have laying problems and got sick and died. Try giving this hen extra calcium late in the day for a couple weeks.

Finding an egg on the ground doesn't necessary make a hen an egg-eater, but do watch the girl who laid it for further problems.

 

[brijetterom]

I am not even sure who is doing it. I have to figure out who it laying it first to see what is going on.


I am not getting an egg a day like I was last week, and I think it is a lighting issue since out days are getting so short. What should I look for in the chicken with the egg laying issues?

 

[azygous]

You need to check the nest boxes to see if she's trying to lay an egg, and time her to see how long she has to spend there. On average, a hen will spend half an hour in a nest to lay an egg. Now, this varies. Some hens like to relax in the nest for an hour before producing the egg.

But a hen with laying problems will spend two hours in the nest, often leaving the nest without laying an egg. If you suspect you have a hen with laying problems, you really need to monitor her on the nest in order to confirm she's having problems.

This is how I knew my girl was having problems. After observing her being on the nest most of the morning without producing an egg, I filled a basin with warm water and soaked her underparts in it for half an hour, then placed her in a crate in a quiet place so she could lay her egg, which is what happened. She used to lay huge eggs, so large I couldn't get the egg carton closed over them. It was inevitable that she would eventually have a stuck egg.

 

[Benjamin III]

You really need to feed them little calcium bits like at most pet stores you can buy little oyster shells and they will make the eggs harder. I feed my chickens it and they have no problem. If they don't eat it then you have to grind it into dust almost and mix it into their food. It really works. Hope I helped!

 

[Betsy57]

I agree with the others...rubber eggs are not uncommon when they first start laying, and even on occasion after that. I've also caught a couple of the girls eating them. But that really doesn't mean that you have "egg eaters" in your coop to worry about. Although mine have eaten a rubber egg or two before I find it, they've never made the transition to hard shelled eggs. Don't know why, but I'm learning that with chickens "not knowing why" they do some of the things they do is pretty common!

I've had the soft eggs too. And the little fart eggs. They're fascinating and funny! And mine eat some eggs sometimes if they are broken in the nest and if I throw a cracked one on the ground for them or accidently drop one they ATTACK that egg. But I've gone in sometime and found where one has laid on the floor and no one touches it! I almost step on it but they leave them alone.

 

[KentuckyMom]

When my six first started laying I got all manner of strange eggs. The soft shells are ...interesting. Once they had been laying awhile all the "bugs" seemed to work themselves out and the eggs now are fine. Now, when they get too much calcium, they can come out strange looking too- bumpy. There was an article on strange eggs not too long ago on BYC. Just about every egg pictured on there , I've had.

 

[BubbaLikesIt]

Make the initial investment of oyster shell and crushed granite. Spread it heavily over their scratch area and don't worry about having too much on the ground, a chicken will only eat what it needs in this department. I have 50 lb. feeders for oyster shell and granite but they don't eat from them, it's scratched on the ground or nothing I guess. Be diligent about not throwing any food scraps away and feed them to the chickens. Provide a laying feed for the chickens but take notice, the more natural supplement they get from foraging and food scraps the less they will eat the laying feed. If my chickens had a big day of collard greens they pass the laying feed up like it wasn't even there. Chickens are easy for the most part, feed'em in the front and eggs fly out of the rear.

Oh yeah, black widows do not effect chickens if they eat them. I have a BPR that ate three when we were moving firewood on Halloween. She gulped down a real big one then ate two more. I watched her real close thinking it might make her sick......nothing. She laid a double yolk egg the next morning.

 

[Kluk-Kluk]

But an occasional rubber egg is nothing to be concerned about. It's when you have one particular hen that can't seem to get the shell wrapped around it, that you need to worry.

I have three red sex-link hens (among others), one of which has been laying a LOT of soft-shelled eggs this fall. These hens are about 18 months old. I've had 12 soft-shelled eggs in 21 days!! I can't tell if they are all from the same hen or not, and these soft eggs are always laid on the floor of the coop, never in the nest. Only once did I find the egg whole; the chickens usually beat me to it and I find the empty soft shell, occasionally with some yolk. (The chickens never touch whole hard-shelled eggs.) These "rubber" eggs are not from young chickens, but from chickens that laid very well all spring and summer. I read somewhere on BYC that it might have something to do with a chicken laying through her molt. Has anyone ever had any experience like this with a whole DOZEN rubber eggs in such a short time??? And if this is from one chicken, should I be worried, as azygous suggests? What can it be?

 

[ChickInDelight]

My 3 year old Barred Rock, Roxy, laid a soft shell egg. The solution was to process 4 of the 5 roosters that could not stay off of her. Despite having 19 same-agers, all the roos like my 4 older girls.