We got our first egg! But.....

[#lovemychickens]

We got our first egg this morning but it was missing a shell. We went out to check on our babies since our temps at night are below freezing and when I opened up the coop doors there was a ripped rubbery shell and about a foot away was a perfect golden yolked egg. Is this normal for them to be in separate pieces? Will her next one be a regular egg? Or will this happen a few times before we get a normal egg?

 

[Sublight]

This is never happened to me, but ive heard other people saying it happened to them. They said it will resolve itself shortly.

 

[SeaPolka]

Maybe it will happen a few times, maybe you get a perfect egg, maybe you don't get an egg, it can take some time to perfect egg laying

 

[SonoranChick]

Yes, this is normal don't worry! It happened to my leghorn a few weeks ago- it was like a perfect egg, just without the shell. She had only been laying for a week, then we got three rubber eggs, then she was back to laying normally. It takes a while for their egg factory to be up and running properly you may want to add some calcium to her diet for now. Mine like plain Greek yogurt with crumble mixed in.

 

[#lovemychickens]

I have some oyster shell available for them but have them on the chick/grower feed. Should I switch them all to layer feed now even if only one of them has laid an egg.

 

[SonoranChick]

Yes you can go ahead and switch them all over, as long as they're over 18 weeks and female. And you can leave the oyster shell out too.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

We got our first egg this morning but it was missing a shell. We went out to check on our babies since our temps at night are below freezing and when I opened up the coop doors there was a ripped rubbery shell and about a foot away was a perfect golden yolked egg. Is this normal for them to be in separate pieces? Will her next one be a regular egg? Or will this happen a few times before we get a normal egg?

A shell-less egg can happen occasionally with new layers. Provide them with oyster shell free choice for added calcium.

Hopefully it's just a glitch and the next one will be just fine.

 

[#lovemychickens]

Is it normal that she has been in the nesting box all day? Does this mean she has gone broody?

 

[RodNTN]

When my pullets began to lay, they would spend hours on end in the nesting box (maybe they were just staying there because they wanted to make sure no one took "their" nest, I suppose ). Your shell less egg was completely normal for a first timer, btw Just keep us posted on her eggs in the future

 

[#lovemychickens]

We have gotten three eggs so far. The first one was a rubber egg and then the second one was normal, just on the small size. The third one was another rubber egg. Is this normal? When will we get normal hardshell eggs? When will the eggs become normal size?