Yesterday soft shell egg, today none

[KimPahl]

I've read the posts here about this issue and I guess I just need some reassurance. I have 3 pullets. My one leghorne has been laying for about 2 maybe 3 weeks an egg a day. She is approx. 20 weeks old or so. The other two I believe to be younger than her are red sex links. They have not laid yet and do not have much in the way of combs.

Anyway, yesterday the leghorne (I'm assuming) laid a soft shell egg and today no egg at all. As of now they have not been given any oyster shells but we do put her crushed shells in our compost bin and they always are hanging out in there. We are going to begin to bake them now. Should we add oyster shells?

When do they slow down production for winter? We are in the mountains of Western NC and it's 60 degrees now. Would this have something to do w/ it? Would you say it may just be that she's a pullet and her body is still adjusting?

They all seem to be acting normal.

One thing I just thought of reading another post -- we have a dog we are dogsitting for and have been for 2 days. She does run down to the chicken run and bark at them occasionally and when she first got here she was scaring them. Our run is a fenced around around our barn so the dog can't get close and the chickens just move on. Could it be that she got scared?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi,

The dog could well be causing stress which in turn can affect laying. Having said that, your hens are new to laying and it can take a while until their body adjusts, so i would not worry about that too much.

Sorry, i have no experience with winter and laying since i live in Kenya and its nice and warm all year round

Good luck
CT

 

[cypressdrake]

I'd give her oyster shells or clam shells crushed. She may be young yet and just need more time to develop

 

[aart]

Agrees stress from dog harassment...and new layer syndrome.

What ind of chicken ration are you feeding?
It's a good idea to have oyster shells available at all times in a separate container to be used as needed.

 

[KimPahl]

Thank you! This morning I found another soft egg outside in the run and under the roost in the coop just a yolk. She was doing so well too. Lol. Yes, they are all young. I assume that has something to do w/ it. We will get oyster shells. What type of container do you suggest? Our feed is in a no spill pvc set up.

Their feed is organic pellets from Tractor Supply not sure of the ratio. We will be making our own at some point. They free range all day.

 

[Blooie]

Rubber or soft shelled eggs are not unusual when they first start laying. The dog may or may not have had anything to do with it, although stress can sure gum up the works sometimes. Rather than focus on the leghorn, I'd be wondering if one of the RSLs isn't starting to lay and she's giving you the rubber eggs and yolks. I had one who did that a lot when she started laying. Normal egg, nothing for a couple of days, then a rubber egg or egg yolk. Silly Beatrice! It's a rather complex assembly line and it takes a while for new layers to sync the system.

Oyster shell can be fed in anything. Just fill it up and leave it - they'll take what they need. I feed my girls hardboiled eggs crushed up with the shells in addition to the oyster shell. I do a big batch at one time, then pop them in a bag in the fridge so they are always ready to go - just take some out, chop 'em up shells and all, and the girls think they are in treat heaven. Between taking full time care of my oh-so-adorable disabled granddaugher, her sister and cousin, and all the other stuff I have to do around Oleo Acres, baking egg shells is not high on my list of ways to spend time so I cheat!

 

[KimPahl]

Thank you! Yes, the thought has crossed my mind that it could be one of the other gals that is beginning to lay. The weird thing is that at the same time this began happening, we stopped getting "normal" eggs in the nest boxes. So, that's why I kind of assumed it was Jan, our leghorn. Marsha & Cindy are the RSLs and I am thinking they should be laying soon although they have really small combs at this time. Not sure if that's normal for RSLs. I couldn't find any info about it.

This is our first experience w/ chickens so we are all figuring this all out!!!