[viettaclark]

Firstly.....MERRY Christmas EVERYBODY! 
Now..I'm suffering from soft egg syndrome....not me....the chooks!
I had the eye-opening revelation this morning that it could possibly be similar to the Scottish problem of bone problems due to the lack of sunlight, and therefore Vit. D, necessary to assimilate calcium.
Sages of the site unite! Have I cracked it? Do we do what the Government is suggesting and add Vit. D to the water??
Discuss.

[NormandyMary]

Ive had 2 softies from my girls in the last month or so, although they all seem to be in very good health. Each time I found a softie, I had a good look at them all to see if I could tell which chook had laid it, but couldnt. Ive just put it down to the fact that they are young and just starting to lay. Ive increased the grit by putting oyster shell in their food. If I keep getting them or the numbers increase, Ill have a rethink, but as long as they are passing them whole and intact, Im not going to lose any sleep over them....yet!!!!! :blink:

[rileyfin]

I find this very interesting, I have one of my older hens (2years) who has been laying soft eggs continuously for the last 6 weeks, before this I just used to get the odd one.
Out of 6 girls there is just one with this problem, I have narrowed it down to one of two birds but dont know which of the two it is.
I feed a good quality pellet as well as mixed corn, lots of fresh fruit and veg and regularly add the Netex multi vit to their water and on occasion cider vin. There is also always plenty fo grit available.
I must check the multi vit to see if it contains vit D, I have read a few articles that say it can be a number of reasons, and it can be genetic. I do wonder if this is the case with my girl as she is the only one that is having this problem.
All of my girls are very fit and well, so I also am not too worried at the moment. However I am going to keep a close eye on the situation.
Merry Christmas  :happy:

[ANHBUC]

I also have one of my six hens that occasionally lays soft shelled eggs.  I keep extras to a minimum which seems to be the thing to do.  They are all fed on layers pellets which are available during daylight hours, plenty of water, grit and oyster shell for them to help themselves.  If they get too many treats, even too much veg it seems to affect her.  I also think that it could be down to genetics.  If she was on an egg farm her days would have been numbered!   

[Lindeggs]

I think the vitamin D theory is a good one, and I have noticed a lot more discussion of soft eggs on this site compared to NZ and Australian poultry sites, so that would support the theory.

BUT I also had one pullet laying soft shelled eggs for a while.  She had plenty of sun exposure over long hours during spring and early summer, so it obviously wasn't a simple sunlight issue.

It seems to me that soft shelled eggs are a common issue and can have many causes - probably a lot of the time it will be a combination of more than one cause.  My suggestion would therefore be:
a) always have shell grit available ad lib
b) offer a good quality vitamin supplement including vitamin D complex
c) make sure every aspect of the chickens' health is optimum - good diet, best possible environmental conditions
c) if everything else has been taken care of, put it down to a genetic issue and try not to fret.  We can't control everything!

[Topscaff]

Wouldn't they get enough grit if they free range as mine do but I still get soft shell eggs every now and then, I am putting it down to Vit D and sunlight deficient, Mike

[joyfull]

no, grit they get from free ranging helps with grinding their feed, shell grit is for the calcium - unless they find lots of crushed snail shells etc they will need extra oyster shell 

[Topscaff]

Thanks you learn something new everyday 

[viettaclark]

I'm pretty sure now that it's just one of my older girls who has just gone through a partial moult who's laying about 4 soft eggs a week.
As someone said, it's difficult to tell because the eggs haven't got their colour and laying is erratic during the short days.
So I'm still getting eggs from my 6 hens (except for the broody and the softie layer) on alternate days, about 17 a week.
It just seems such a shame that she's putting in all that effort (and using up her finite egg supply) to lay soft eggs that are splatted through the rungs!!

[Oliveview]

We get the odd soft or very thin shelled egg, we tried oyster grit, calcium powder, crushed snails, they would not eat them whole, fussy things!  Nothing seemed to work.  We have sunshine most days, so it can't be down to lack of sunshine!  Their feed has added calcium too. 

Pameka

[joyfull]

age also plays a part in this, remember some birds are classed as old in egg laying terms when they reach two, whereas some are still ok at five.

[ANHBUC]

age also plays a part in this, remember some birds are classed as old in egg laying terms when they reach two, whereas some are still ok at five.

That is probably why you see a lot of 2 year old birds for sale online.  People don't want to feed them when they are no longer productive.