What happened?

[mlouski]

I am a couple of weeks into being a new chicken keeper/farmer... whatever you want to call it...although i only have 3 backyard beauties. They are all pullets 18 weeks or so...two have been giving me an egg a day (10AM on the dot!) for a week. The other laid something today that I thought was just a large dropping, but looking closer it almost appears to be a softened almost dissolved shell and there is a distinct yellow yolk streaked throughout. I can't find any reference in any book about it but it has me wondering...any ideas?

 

[Lollipop]

Not uncommon for pullets to have such problems at first. give her some time for her body to adjust........Pop

 

[therealsilkiechick]

they r new layers their bodies need time to adjust. they will be fine once their schedules straighten out it is not unusual to see now and then even with adult layers they will skip days of laying also.

if u keep seeing soft shells they need more calcium. u can give them oyster grit/oyster shell to help. it will thicken the shells so they r hard shelled like supost to be. u can buy oyster at the feed store or tractor supply places like that. another thing i do is make scrambled eggs and crush up the shells. mix it up and feed it back to them they will get calcium that way to and love it for treats. for my quails i used to raise i put in cockatiel cuttle bones to help since they were more messy than the chickens were that helps also.
silkie