Soft-shelled eggs?

Well, the chickens are laying in the nests just fine, almost a dozen eggs daily. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Most are perfect, right about or almost AA size. Younger chickens are laying smaller eggs. A few are slightly odd shaped. The larger eggs are double yolks. The most puzzling have been a few soft-shelled eggs. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I'm guessing the chickens laid them early before the shell formed, because most we've had 50+ eggs perfectly fine, and only 3 soft-shelled. Any one else see this before? Do you know what causes it? Thanks. -Jonathan

We occaissonally get soft-shelled eggs and I am told it is not unusual. I picked up a 50lb bag of calcium chips (oyster shells?) from the farmers market and throw a bit in with the food once in a while. Haven't had a soft-shelled egg since, but that could be just a coincidence 'cause we weren't getting that many in the first place.

A 50lb bag costs less than $10 and lasts a long time. I'd pick up a bag and give it a try; if you still occassionally get one, I wouldn't worry about it. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Jonathan -- Soft shells are generally due to insufficient calcium in the diet. You rarely see this in free range chickens as they get it from the dirt, but if confined in a coop they'll need ground oyster shells. Pick up a bag; the stuff is dirt cheap. We use it in the winter when the ground is covered by snow. Just toss half a handful in their feed every day, or scatter it in the coop or run if you prefer.

Our Chicken Page has a lot of info for the small flock person.

Pete

We used to use a little self feeder like you have with dry dog food and it was free choice. Oyster shells.

I asked my wife to tell me if the eggs shells were thick or thin. She said the lighter shells were thinner and the darker ones thicker. Our flock is entirely Rhode Island Reds so the eggs are all brown, varying from dark to light. So it sounds like the chickens have different food preferences. The chickens aren't free range, but <font color="blue"> forced range </font color>. They get a new piece of ground to forage each day, but within a rolling run. So I'm guessing some like the dirt and veggies, others just look for bugs. I fed them crumbled up eggs shells yesterday, no soft-shells today. Thanks for the ideas. I'll follow up.