[Tosca]

Hello,

We have 3 hens which we bought at pol last april. They all lay daily and until today we have had nothing unusual from them at all.
This morning when i let them out there were 2 soft shelled eggs in the nesting box, layed earlier than usual (they usually lay later when they've had breakfast).
Can anyone tell me if this is anything to worry about please? Could they have been scared by something or is it more likely to be a dietary deficiency / illness?

Any advise would be really great, thank you.

[joyfull]

do they have access to layers pellets, grit and oyster shell all day? Plus they will need greens regularly to help them absorb the calcium. The odd soft egg is nothing to worry about.

[Tosca]

Thank you for your reply, they have layers mash and grit (it says on the bag it has oyster shell in it) out all day and i give them cabbage and spinach as well as other veg and apples every day. It just seemed odd that two of the three layed soft eggs at the same time so i was a bit worried! They seem happy enough now though and are behaving normally so hopefully they'll lay normal eggs tomorrow!

[Dickie73]

Hello,
I had something similar the other week when all three of my birds laid soft shell eggs when out in the garden free ranging. It was totally random and very unexpected and I was very worried but it's not happened again since so I put it down to some sort of disturbance. I did have to wait an extra day for eggs though - two of them skipped a day entirely.
Hope yours are ok too.

[orchardlady]

You may find that as we move into the Autumn/Winter time your hens are slowing down on their egg production. Maybe these soft shelled eggs are like the 'putt putt' of an engine as it dies. You should find that as soon as the days start to draw out again in January egg service will resume as normal!.

[---Snakey---]

My four ladies are so confusing.... I got them about a month ago now. The speckledy was laying from the off, daily. She went broody, stopped being broody and then stopped laying.
The blackrock has laid her first 3 eggs in the last week, real beauties. The light sussex and bluebell haven't laid at all.

This morning I have discovered within the clean/litter drawer from under the perch two very soft shelled eggs. I'm really not sure who is doing what and when. The blackrock and the speckledy have previously laid in the nest box, so I don't really have a clue to what is happening!!!

Any help welcome ?