[sussexchook]

I collected my eggs this afternoon and 1 of them was quite a soft shell with a small hole in the top with something small sticking out of it. When I cracked the egg in a dish to see what it was it looks like a small  light brown tadpole type shape I'm worried that it could be serious does anyone know what it could be.

[ghost61]

If your hen is otherwise acting normally, it is probable that she is coming to the end of her ability to lay.  You could try extra calcium in her diet via limestone flour or soluble calcium in her water,  and see if the soft shell problem goes away (assume they have oyster shell available in any case).  However, my money is on the fact that she's running out of eggs.  One of mine stopped laying after 15 months and at the end produced the weirdest of eggs before stopping completely.

[sussexchook]

 Thanks for the reasuerance,I give them grit/oyster shell all the the time so it won't be that. I'll just have to keep an eye on her.

[Helenaj]

As ghost61 says, a hen at the end of her laying cycle will lay all kinds of wonderful shapes. I've had some that look as though its a bit of tube stuck out of the top like an uninflated balloon, only it's made of shell. you'll get almost accordian shapes ones as well. If she seems perky enough, she's just going through the chicken equivalent of the menopause.