what the heck is this

[windyacre1]

I would have posted a picture but after reviewing it you can not tell what it is. Every other day it seems like I only get 5 eggs, yesterday I wrote in saying I got 7 after looking very thoroughly through my coop, when ever I only see five eggs having 6 chicks. Well when I went out after work to check for eggs today, the first thing I spotted was something that looked like a smashed egg, but as I got closer it was like a skin of a egg, it was brown and had some mucus stuck to it, but it was in the shape of a egg, that is what I call a soft shelled egg. My chicks also all of a sudden are laying in random places and I don't know why. The day I found the seven eggs, they were all over, 1 in the poop tray,1 on top of a create, 1 in the window sill and the rest were in the nesting boxes. Is this normal? Is this something that anyone else has seen. I am still getting some pretty small eggs, but then I have one very large egg every day, could that be from the chick that is not laying every day? I wish there was a way to tell who is laying and who is not and what egg was laid by who.LOL

 

[PoultreeKing]

I would have posted a picture but after reviewing it you can not tell what it is. Every other day it seems like I only get 5 eggs, yesterday I wrote in saying I got 7 after looking very thoroughly through my coop, when ever I only see five eggs having 6 chicks. Well when I went out after work to check for eggs today, the first thing I spotted was something that looked like a smashed egg, but as I got closer it was like a skin of a egg, it was brown and had some mucus stuck to it, but it was in the shape of a egg, that is what I call a soft shelled egg. My chicks also all of a sudden are laying in random places and I don't know why. The day I found the seven eggs, they were all over, 1 in the poop tray,1 on top of a create, 1 in the window sill and the rest were in the nesting boxes. Is this normal? Is this something that anyone else has seen. I am still getting some pretty small eggs, but then I have one very large egg every day, could that be from the chick that is not laying every day? I wish there was a way to tell who is laying and who is not and what egg was laid by who.LOL

If you want to know who's laying what, you will have to separate each chicken by herself in a cage and watch her eggs four a couple of days. as for the wierd egg with mucus, some chicken can sometimes lay eggs without a shell or just unnatural eggs, this can happen so i wouldn't worry about it much. And finally if you have a hen over two or three years of age then that will explain why you usually find only 5 eggs, because when a hen is over two years of age her egg production reduces, so she would not lay as often as other hens, and also old hens tend to lay bigger eggs than young hens so that might explain the big egg you've been seeing, but a lot of chicken lay big eggs and a lot of chicken lay small eggs, it just depends on the chicken.

 

[windyacre1]

Thanks that makes me feel a little better I thought maybe they were lacking some thing in their diet. My 6 chicks have only been laying for about a month they are 26 weeks old.

 

[Pork Pie]

The larger could indeed be from your girl that does not lay daily. Since they are new to laying, the hit and miss nature of their laying is normal.

Maybe there's a mite infestation in your nest boxes that could cause your flock to lay elsewhere - it's worth checking, at least.

 

[windyacre1]

The larger could indeed be from your girl that does not lay daily. Since they are new to laying, the hit and miss nature of their laying is normal.

Maybe there's a mite infestation in your nest boxes that could cause your flock to lay elsewhere - it's worth checking, at least.

O god I hope not LOL I have given them garlic water since they were born and put rosemary in their nesting boxes, I clean the coop every day, and they have a dusting bath area outside and in. That had crossed my mind, like is there some thing in their nesting boxes that they do not like? i have 6 chicks and 4 nesting boxes just in case I get more chicks in the future. Thanks for your input.

 

[MageofMist]

You could also provide some extra oyster shell grit just in case it is calcium, as for not laying in the nesting boxes, you could put a dummy egg in each one. Seeing eggs where they are meant to lay tells them where they are supposed to lay.

 

[windyacre1]

You could also provide some extra oyster shell grit just in case it is calcium, as for not laying in the nesting boxes, you could put a dummy egg in each one. Seeing eggs where they are meant to lay tells them where they are supposed to lay.

Thanks, I just started the oyster grit just in case, the lady at the feed store told me only to give it to the in the winter because they cant get to grit like things with snow on the ground but someone else told me it helps build better and harder eggs so I went with that and they have had it now for about a week.

 

[sfgwife]

Thanks, I just started the oyster grit just in case, the lady at the feed store told me only to give it to the in the winter because they cant get to grit like things with snow on the ground but someone else told me it helps build better and harder eggs so I went with that and they have had it now for about a week.

Grit and oyster shells are two very different things. And you need have a bowl of each for your birds out.

Grit is tinny pebbles that aid digestion.

Oyster shell is for laying hens extra calcium.

They need be separate from food and in separate bowls. Each bird will take what they need.

 

[windyacre1]

Grit and oyster shells are two very different things. And you need have a bowl of each for your birds out.

Grit is tinny pebbles that aid digestion.

Oyster shell is for laying hens extra calcium.

They need be separate from food and in separate bowls. Each bird will take what they need.

O Ok boy there is a lot to learn and I want to do it right thanks so much