What causes "soft" eggs

[Gray Ghost]

Sitting here at my kitchen table I just watched one of my red sex link hens lay an egg on my deck. It had a soft, paper thin shell like a turtle egg ( but thinner). Then the hen ate the egg (shell / skin and all).

What causes the soft shell? I have not been having this problem before that I know of. Yesterday my 11 laying hens laid 11 eggs. My hens free range and also have 24/7 access to commercial layer feed and oyster shell.

 

[Imp]

Is the hen a new layer? Sometimes it is because they are still trying to get the details right.
Here's some more info:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

Good luck

Imp

 

[Gray Ghost]

This hen has been laying fine since reaching maturity about 7 weeks ago. As far as I can tell this is a new problem.

 

[OregonChickenGal]

When they're young, they'll lay a weird egg once in awhile. It's normal.