[jujumoose]

Hi everyone
I've been lurking in the background for a few weeks picking up invaluable advice from lots of posts on here so I thought its about time I said hello and asked my first question!

My wife and I brought 3 chickens (about 22 weeks old now) 1 Speckaldy, 1 Rhode Rock and the other we can't remember the breed!  So far the Rhode Rock has been laying nearly everyday and they have been nice firm shells and have a lovely taste.  However the last 2 days we have had no eggs and today we have have had 2, both have been laid in the run.  One is firm, lighter in colour and smaller than the other so we assume that we have a new layer, but the other was a very soft shell.  Is this normal?  Are they still trying to get into their laying pattern?  Also why do you think they have started to lay in the run, previous eggs were laid in coop.
Thanks.

[Casey76]

Yep, soft shells are perfectly normal when a pullet comes into lay.  Also is finding an egg in the middle of the run.  Often ther first egg(s) seem to catch them by surprise.  they soon get the hang of laying in the proper place though.

[jujumoose]

Thanks for the quick reply...The pellets I brought contain grit and the breeder I brought the chickens from said that therefore no additional grit is needed...do I still need oyster shell?

[Casey76]

There are two kinds of grit...

1) hard grit/flint which is used by the chicken to grind up food in the gizzard and

2) Oystershell which is soluable and contains a ready source of calcium for good shells.

Personally I would feed a basic layers pellet without any additions, and keep pots of both hard grit and oystershell available for easy access.  This way the chickens will ingest what they need.  And you also won't pay the premium for a "fancy" all-in-one pellet

[Dominic]

I do as casey, they have oyster shell available, and grit, but its seperate from the food.