Three soft eggs in one night!!!

[Jojomarie23]

Hey everyone,
I have 6 chickens, 4 that lay brown eggs and 4 that lay colored. These girls just started laying last week. Yesterday I got 2 perfect little brown eggs, but this morning I found 3 soft shelled eggs that were laid off the roosting bar. Could this be because they are young? They are 17 weeks now, but started laying at 16 weeks. Could this also be because I just started them on layer feed and I do have oyster shell for them. We have had 5 eggs total in the nesting box. But we have had quite a few soft ones off the roosting bar too that I have been told could be because they are new. Help! I'm so worried. I had a girl last night with an egg stuck that we got out but it was also soft!

 

[happyhencamper]

Normal to have soft shelled when they start laying. I had one soft one break as coming out and pulled the hanging leftover from her bottom. When you say you got it out where was it stuck? Inside vent? A piece hanging on bottom? As far as laying from roost I still get one here or there laying other places mine are older. Try fake eggs in nest boxes worked for me. When they see them they are likely to want to lay where the others have laid.

 

[Jojomarie23]

Normal to have soft shelled when they start laying. I had one soft one break as coming out and pulled the hanging leftover from her bottom. When you say you got it out where was it stuck? Inside vent? A piece hanging on bottom? As far as laying from roost I still get one here or there laying other places mine are older. Try fake eggs in nest boxes worked for me. When they see them they are likely to want to lay where the others have laid.

It was stuck inside vent. I Epsom salt soaked her for 20 minutes and felt right inside and she started pushing it out. She ended up getting it out then. She is acting normal this morning thankfully. But thank you for your input. I hope they all start laying harder eggs soon!! It's a mess at the bottom of their coop every morning now it seems. I'm cleaning it up daily so they don't eat it.

 

[Lor]

Have you seen them eat the oyster shells?
Maybe you could sprinkle a little bit of calcium on the food for a few days to give them a little extra?

 

[Jojomarie23]

Have you seen them eat the oyster shells?
Maybe you could sprinkle a little bit of calcium on the food for a few days to give them a little extra?

I have seen them eat the oyster shells! I also thought about doing a powder supplement for now!

 

[Lor]

I have seen them eat the oyster shells! I also thought about doing a powder supplement for now!

That's good!
Supplementing might help. Guess it takes a little while to get into their system.

 

[Mrs. K]

They are just young. You can treat them, but on the other hand, this will clear up on its own even if you do nothing.

Mrs K

 

[Avocadoman]

My best layer has been suddenly laying soft shelled eggs from her roost at night for the last week, now her bestie friend who is a new layer is doing the same. I expect the new layer to do this, but my best layer doing it so often who has been laying for over three months consistently, is disturbing and impacting my egg supply. I took them off the oyster shell about three weeks ago because they didn't seem to be eating it and the laying food I've been giving them says it has oyster shell in it. I also like to give them cheese which they all love so I don't think it's calcium deficiency, plus the fact they are laying at night is odd. The eggs are normal size too so I don't suspect egg-drop-syndrome although I do have another hen that does exhibit egg-drop-syndrome symptoms (small no pigment egg with sometimes softshell), but my hen with egg-drop is laying pretty well now. Anyway all of my hens have reduced egg production over the last week, two weeks ago I was getting 4-5 eggs a day from six hens and that was including the young one that hadn't even started laying yet. I think I'll try the oyster shell again but I'm not confident that's the problem.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I took them off the oyster shell about three weeks ago because they didn't seem to be eating it and the laying food I've been giving them says it has oyster shell in it. I also like to give them cheese which they all love so I don't think it's calcium deficiency,

I think I'll try the oyster shell again but I'm not confident that's the problem.

They should always have a calcium source available, layer feed has calcium to meet an "average" bird's needs. Some birds need more than that.

I don't think you can meet their needs with cheese, and possibly chickens can't digest dairy (though I'm not sure on that).

 

[Avocadoman]

For sure I worried about the dairy but my chickens seem to have no problem with it. Sharp cheeses have most of the lactose fermented out of them anyway so if lactose intolerance was an issue the sharp cheeses I share with them should not be a problem anyway. Cheese is one of the highest calcium sources that is edible so I don't see any reason why their needs couldn't be met with cheese. There's certainly nothing in nature that can match it that a chicken would normally forage for.