Chicken layed soft egg

[crashy]

Ok I went to the chicken barn and on the straw under their roost was an egg I picked it up and it is soft. This is the first time I have seen one. Any suggestions as to why this happened. I feed them layer crumbles and they free range everyday.

[7thswan]

I can't say, but it happens. Tomorrow,you'll probably get a regular one.

[TxAprilMagic]

lack of "calcium" Feed crushed "Oyster Shells".

[GrannyG]

I have had that at times as well over the years...they really look funny.....this is from the egg board....

Shell strength is greatly influenced by the minerals and vitamins in the hen's diet, particularly calcium, phosphorus, manganese and Vitamin D. If the diet is deficient in calcium, for instance, the hen will produce a thin or soft-shelled egg or possibly an egg with no shell at all. Occasionally an egg may be prematurely expelled from the uterus due to injury or excitement. In this case, the shell has not had time to be completely formed. Shell thickness is also related to egg size which, in turn, is related to the hen's age. As the hen ages, egg size increases. The same amount of shell material which covers a smaller egg must be "stretched" to cover a larger one, hence the shell is thinner.

May be a premature egg.........

[Oggie]

This is a chicken:



This is not a chicken:

[uncle Will in In.]

Soft eggs are caused by the hen only being on the nest 3 minutes or less. We all know a hard egg takes about 10 minutes.

[longshadowfarms]

Originally Posted by TxAprilMagic

lack of "calcium" Feed crushed "Oyster Shells".

Ditto, and I'll add ASAP! If the problem continues, you might want to find out who is laying them and get rid of her. If the others get a taste of that egg, you may end up with bigger problems like egg eaters.

[Kaitlin]

Sometimes this happens at the start of a laying season. Feed them grit anyway and things should settle down.

[crashy]

Oggie you 'crack' me up!!! I have had chickens for 10ish years and never had that. Weird

[mylala]

Originally Posted by crashy

Ok I went to the chicken barn and on the straw under their roost was an egg I picked it up and it is soft. This is the first time I have seen one. Any suggestions as to why this happened. I feed them layer crumbles and they free range everyday.

Sometimes it just happens...if you are feeding a complete feed you don't need to add oyster shell...it won't hurt, but not needed.

I've had it happen twice this year. It's like a shell-less egg, right?

I usually crush up my egg shells really fine and give them to the hens. (dry the shells first!) They love it and the shells are really hard for the next few days after that.

[Shepherd]

Once the hens start eating the eggs, is there anything you can do to get them to stop?

Yes I've had a couple of those "no shell" eggs.

[Nina]

Shepherd, try putting wooden eggs (from a craft store..not sure if golf balls will work) in the nest(s), keep the nesting area as dark as possible and remove the freshly laid eggs as often as possible. Eventually you should be able to remove the wooden ones.
...the availability of oyster shell is good, but won't stop the shell-less eggs. Uncle Will, can a hen put together a shell in 10 minutes?

[gina kay]

Kaitlin, grit is to help them digest their food and prevent impacted crop. Oyster shell (or used egg shells) helps harden their shells. Sometimes soft shells will happen at the beginning of the laying season (if they took a break to molt) or if it's a young, new layer.

[highlands]

I've seen this a couple of times. Different hens. Different years. seems like just the occasional anomaly. On rare occasions an egg will have bumps or other texture or speckles.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

[cc-rider]

I had one that did that once or twice when it first started laying....then it was just fine after that.

[Joshie]

Originally Posted by TxAprilMagic

lack of "calcium" Feed crushed "Oyster Shells".

We feed oyster shells in an old dog bowl. We also mix some in with the layer pellets. We were occasionally finding an egg with a small hole. It didn't look like anyone pecked at it. On the poultry board another member said that they had this happen when their girls didn't consume enough calcium. They said that they'd had better luck getting the girls to get enough calcium this way. It's worked wonderfully for us.... except we now go through a lot more calcium.

[artificer]

Originally Posted by mylala

Sometimes it just happens...if you are feeding a complete feed you don't need to add oyster shell...it won't hurt, but not needed.

This is only true if the feed is a layer ration. If the feed is just a poultry feed, you need to supplement the calcium, typically with oyster shells.

If the feed is a layer ration, it shouldn't be fed to roosters, non-laying hens, or chicks. Prolonged excessive calcium can cause binding.

Even with layer feed we like to put out some oyster shells. If the hen needs it, she'll eat it. When the birds freerange, their calcium intake can drop, so oyster shells can make up the difference.

Michael

[Kaitlin]

Originally Posted by gina kay

Kaitlin, grit is to help them digest their food and prevent impacted crop. Oyster shell (or used egg shells) helps harden their shells. Sometimes soft shells will happen at the beginning of the laying season (if they took a break to molt) or if it's a young, new layer.

Oops, I meant oyster shell! Sorry!

I also give mine a bowl of milk occasionally to top up their calcium.

[longshadowfarms]

If you put out oyster shell, they will use it as they need it. If they are getting enough from their feed they won't eat the oyster shell. If they need it, they seem to crave it or something. Not sure how they know, but if they need it, they'll eat the oyster shell.

Fixing an egg eater - you need to be REALLY persistent. Collect eggs frequently, provide lots of other goodies for them to eat (free rangers seem to do it less frequently than those cooped up, but free rangers might start in winter when they are bored), dark nest boxes will help, also provide plenty of nesting spaces, maybe even some in a different part of the barn if you have a larger space (to give a shy or low bird in the pecking order a "safe" place to go). The sooner you start to correct an egg eater, the less chance that the habit will become ingrained. If they're persistent, the best solution is to figure out who is doing it and remove them from the flock. If deeply ingrained and a lot of them are doing it, you may need to replace the entire flock.