my nine month only cochin has been laying faithfully for 5 months. today her egg looked normal, but the shell was soft...tough, but soft. had harvested it too soon after laying, could the 5 degree weather have anything to do with it? She eats well, both standard laying mash and free ranging weather permitting. thanks
roger white
justolrog@aol.com

Since she's on the younger side, I wouldn't worry about her giving you soft eggs once in a while. Some of my pullets used to shoot out eggs compeletely without a shell. But eventually, as they got older and were more experienced working women, it stopped. As long as she's eating and drinking normally, I wouldn't worry.

Is she getting oyster shell as a supplement? She may need more calcium.

Sometimes a soft shell is a response to a sudden stress, and nothing to do with the level of calcium carbonate in the diet. The bird will simply expel the egg before the shell is formed, especially when the weather turns bad. Most feeds have enough calcium for all but the most productive Leghorns.

John

It is normal for hens to lay soft shells every so often. My cousin's hens do that a couple times a month. Like two or three times. It is perfectly normal.

I just noticed the comment that "most feeds have enough calcium for all but the most productive leghorns" and now I'm wondering - I (a newbie) have a couple leghorns that produce an egg a day (sometimes one of the girls even slips in an extra) until a couple days ago when they started to molt (I believe). I now also have some OEG hens. Will it hurt the OEG hens to have access to the extra calcium? or hurt the leghorns to not have it? And what's the most effective way to give it to them? We have our compost pile in the chicken yard and they love to eat the egg shells in it - is that enough or should I look for a supplement? We're in sunny Southern California so the season is "long" and warm, if that makes a difference . . .

daxmom

Amongst a real mix of hens I have two identical hybrid layers (ISA Brown)one produces an egg every day without fail, the other lays an egg with a soft shell which it invariably eats. Both are 18 months old. It has gone on now for over 4 months throughout the summer in UK in fact. Both appear extremely healthy. Is there any hope for hen number 2 or is it "into the Pot" chicken?

I don't think there is a need to go to the trouble of buying oyster shells, just crush up the egg shells as you use them. My new chickens laid some shell-less eggs and as soon as I started giving them bits of shell the problem disappeared