Worried, look at This egg! Normal?!?

[Beard4]

Thanks, she is definitely a first-time layer as
I only have 1 consistent layer (for 2 weeks a golden comet)
but my Rhode Island Red is 23/24 weeks now.

So far, the way I have the eggshells they seem to do good with them, they just prefer that over oyster... However, my non-layers are eating it also.. But the one who is munching down is also showing signs of "the squat" (similar to my golden and RIR) so I think she will also lay soon.

It happens once in awhile especially with new layers while they are working out the kinks. I put grit and oyster shells in my feeders with their feed and they take what they want but I have a lot of birds and this works best for me. I have given it to them free choice but most of the time it ended up on the floor and then they didn't touch it so I started putting it in the feeders.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I live in Alabama, the first soft shell was directly under where they perch at night. The other 2 soft shells came in on the same day (3 days after the initial one).. 1 between the feeder and water and another was where they free range first thing in the morning while I give them fresh water and make sure they have enough food.

I only have 1 layer (golden comet for 2 weeks now) however my Rhode Island Red is 23/24 weeks old.

She has seemed very interested in the nesting box, carving her out a spot every day.. I just thought she was having a hard time sorting out the laying an egg deal.

I think she just laid a blooper! Given her age and the heat, it's not surprising. Just keep an eye on her for unusual behavior, but she is most likely fine.

 

[Hand Mama]

I live in Alabama, the first soft shell was directly under where they perch at night. The other 2 soft shells came in on the same day (3 days after the initial one).. 1 between the feeder and water and another was where they free range first thing in the morning while I give them fresh water and make sure they have enough food.

I only have 1 layer (golden comet for 2 weeks now) however my Rhode Island Red is 23/24 weeks old.

She has seemed very interested in the nesting box, carving her out a spot every day.. I just thought she was having a hard time sorting out the laying an egg deal.

I'm quite lucky in the uk we only have 2 species of snake & both are quite small, but it looked longer than a normal egg? & I watch some programmes where non native snakes have started to invade especially the python,people who bought them as pets & they didn't know what they were getting themselves in to & when they've got to big to handle, house etc, they have just been realised into the wild, these things can up to 200 eggs at a time & have you got a camera you could put out there for a couple of days & see what happens? Then you'd definitely know

 

[cmom]

I love cameras. There was a time I wasn't getting any eggs so I put a camera pointing at the nest boxes. Some of the birds would get in them but no eggs. I did find a small rat snake wrapped around the outside of a milk crate I had fixed up in another coop as a nest box but it didn't take any eggs that I know of and I got it out and sent it packing. I left the camera in the coop for a week checking it daily and nothing, then boom they started laying again. Tis a mystery.

 

[cmom]

I agree it does look like a soft shell egg, but more like a snakes??

We are rural. A neighbor was loosing her birds to a snake. Apparently someone dropped off a former pet snake (Boa) and it decided to move in under her porch. Her birds kept disappearing. She discovered the snake. It appears the snake got too big so someone dropped it off. She called some wildlife people who came and got it.

 

[Hand Mama]

We are rural. A neighbor was loosing her birds to a snake. Apparently someone dropped off a former pet snake (Boa) and it decided to move in under her porch. Her birds kept disappearing. She discovered the snake. It appears the snake got too big so someone dropped it off. She called some wildlife people who came and got it.

That's happened a lot over there, the everglades are full of boas that have be release by people who couldn't cater for their needs properly & instead of calling a rescue they've just been dumped, but they are migrating & quite fast, there was a man I saw that had been bitten by a green mamba they're not native to the USA either

 

[Hand Mama]

I love cameras. There was a time I wasn't getting any eggs so I put a camera pointing at the nest boxes. Some of the birds would get in them but no eggs. I did find a small rat snake wrapped around the outside of a milk crate I had fixed up in another coop as a nest box but it didn't take any eggs that I know of and I got it out and sent it packing. I left the camera in the coop for a week checking it daily and nothing, then boom they started laying again. Tis a mystery.

Maybe they felt threaten & put laying on hold if there was a snake around, when they knew it was defo gone off they went again??