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[SharonX]

Hi,

 

One of my girls has been off lay for about a week and has started laying again for the last 3 days. These have been normal eggs. Tonight I saw her crouching on the grass & went out to check she was ok. She walked off & seemed ok so I left them to it. I have just been out to sit with them for a while to find her acting rather strange & all puffed up & crouching as if she was constipated so I lifted her tail feathers to see if everything was ok down there and out popped a softie egg.

 

I went back out to her and she was looking a bit peeky so I picked her up for a cuddle & out fell another! The girls have all charged on it and eaten it Is she ok?? That's 3 eggs (2 softies one normal) in one day!!

 

Are they ok the eat egg?? I have just topped up their pellets with oyster grit and added extra limestone flour to it as well. They have all been perfectly well and happy I'm just worrying she's not well or that I'm doing something wrong.

Thanks

 

Sharon

[FORENSICA]

Sorry, not sure what is up with your girl. But I would think that if she is eating fine and being generally happy, then she should be OK. Fingers cross that somebody more experienced will come soon and calm you down

[Snowy]

Don't worry - it is quite normal! Sometimes two eggs go through their system in quick succession, so there is no time for a proper shell to form. They usually look quite off colour as well when they are about to lay a softie - it is harder for them to lay because of the lack of shell. Hopefully now she has got rid of them she will perk up a bit. It doesn't do the others any harm to eat the softies, but not a good habit for them to get into - they may start breaking normal eggs once they realise there is food inside!

[Egluntyne]

Just one of those blips probably.

 

Eating the soft egg won't do them any harm, but try not to let them make a habit of it.....as it is a difficult one to get them out of.

 

Giving them oyster shell grit and limestone flour should sort the problem out.

[SharonX]

Thanks for that. She hasn't layed today but I wasn't expecting her to after all that going on!

All seems fine today in herself though so that's good. I won't let them eat eggs again if I can help it, they pounced on it so fast when it dropped out I didn't have time to do much about it though

Thanks again everyone

Sharonx

[kiwichick]

I'm so glad for this thread. Both of my girls laid their eggs this morning, one of which was a double-yolker. Then this afternoon I found a softie in the garden and just now when I went out to shut the girls in there was another softie laid which must have slipped out with a poo. I'm pretty sure it was from Mildred as she was extremely vocal today. If it is her then that's 33 eggs in 31 days she's laid, and at least 7 of those have been double yolkers. I hope she's not going to wear out her laying tackle too quickly.

 

Could an over-abundance of treats cause something like this to happen?

[Egluntyne]

Hi Kiwi chick.....it is because she is new to laying.

 

They release 2 yolks in rapid succession occasionally and they whistle through the laying equipment and get encased in one sell.

 

It tends to happen during the first few months when they are young, and occasionally when they are at the end of their egglaying career.

 

It settles down.....and you find yourself longing for a double yolker.

 

If you just limit treats till mid afternoon onwards, you won't go wrong.

[surferdog]

Phew! Relieved to hear this is normal as we've just had the same thing. All three of mine started laying at the weekend and we have had two double yolkers, 2 softees, 2 tiny eggs, 1 cracked and three that look normal (but so did the double-yolkers until we opened them). Hopefully things will settle down for all our girls soon.

[kiwichick]

No egg from Mildred this morning but another runny poo which looked like it had yolk in it. I've given her a bowl of yoghurt with bokashi bran and egg shells in it. How long does it take for the extra calcium to work it's way through a chooks system?

 

I dunno, it's worse than when the kids are sick the way we worry over these little ladies

[superjules]

I read somewhere that it's 3 days Kiwichick.

[kiwichick]

Great, thanks for all the information.

[SharonX]

My Poppy started laying again today which is good news. I have been putting the Lime in her food for about a week. So hopefully yours will kick in soon.

[SharonX]

Spoke too soon, another softie this morning! Although it was quite firm in places. When ever she lays a softie and she's in the garden she never pops back to the nesting box she just drops it anywhere or if they are in the run it's always on the rooster bars & not in the box. I wonder why this is?