Hold the phone people, we've got an emergency. At least that's what I thought tonight. I thought Dottie was dying. She was standing there like a statue, panting. The poor girl didn't even attempt to eat a single mealworm I put in front of her little, dotted beak. I was prepared to stay the night in the coop. "Maybe she's just hot," I thought. It was a chilling 104 today, so went to the garage to grab the big fan. I wasn't even gone for one minute when I come back to find a soft egg in the nest and a broken egg on the ground. Then I really started freaking out. (Thus, no photos of the broken egg). I knew someone was stopped up because I only got one egg yesterday. So what did I do? Google. There was no time for backyardchickens.com. Well Google says it's too dang hot. (Shocker.) I'm going to post what I read. Don't feel like you have to read it. I'm only posting it for my future reference in case I forget. Here's a picture of the egg, well membrane...
In younger hens, sometimes an egg stays in the shell gland for too long and the egg that follows it doesn't spend long enough. In these circumstances, the two eggs are laid closely together on the same day.
Thin egg shells can occur on hot days when the temperature rises. This is associated with a lower food intake and shell thickness will return to normal when the temperature drops and the food intake returns to normal.
A 'soft shelled egg' is one that has a membrane but no shell. Most people immediately think that Oyster shell grit is what a hen needs if she is laying soft shelled eggs but a dietary deficiency can also be the cause of a ‘soft' shelled egg. Whilst chickens need calcium in their diet which can be provided by soluble grit (such as Oystershell) to form egg shells, sufficient calcium can usually be found in modern formulated poultry feeds. Chickens need the correct level of protein in their diet as well as minerals and various other vitamins. Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) for example is used for the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus so that they are able to form egg shells as well as strong bones. Vitamin D is found in Cod Liver Oil but they shouldn't normally need this if they are fed the correct formulated layers feed, are free range and have sunshine on their backs.
Soft shelled eggs laid once in a while are nothing to worry about. Hens that are at the start of their laying period, or have come to the end of it, often lay a soft shelled egg.
If diet doesn't seem to be the problem and soft shelled eggs are being laid regularly during the middle of a laying period, then there could be a number of reasons for this:
- Inflamation of the oviduct (and there isn't anything that can be done about this as far as I know).
- Calcium absorbtion problems (if the diet is correct and oystershell grit is provided ad-lib then there is sufficient calcium available but it cannot be absorbed correctly by the hen).
- Stress. The problem usually goes away once the cause of stress is removed. Keep an eye out for bullying, especially if it is occuring around the nest boxes and you are finding the soft shelled eggs outside of the nest boxes.
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