4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[chocolatedog]

I know there are a lot of threads on this problem, but I thought I'd start a new one as it's happening to Pepper, who has been my most reliable layer since August.....not sure why it's happening.....they have an extra grit pot in the run, but as the weather is getting better and the days are getting longer I suppose they're out for more free-ranging. When it's wet I keep them in the run, but the softies still happen, about one every 4 or 5 eggs. Inbetween the softies, we get a good egg or two, then some really pale shell, thinner ones, then a softie, and then back to semi-decent again. Could it be because she's out of the run more? (But so are all 3 of them - unless they go back and forth more than she does.....)Or might it be because the most recent lot of pellets was a different brand?(Except that the other 2 are fine........) Or is it something to do with the fact she'll be coming up to a year old fairly soon, and are softies a sign of an oncoming moult? She's older than the others so I guess she'll start to moult slightly earlier than them..... Not quite sure what's happening here....... (She seems pretty fine in herself though..... )

[jomaxsmith]

Big Zee layed two softies last week, after not laying any since the early days. I wonder if it's the pressure of longer days and laying every day.

 

I've upped the Limestone flour and hoping it's a blip

 

Jo

[slip and pitch]

One of mine does the same. They have a bowl of grit in their run,corn with grit and shell mixed in and free range a lot, and after trying various things such as grated cuttlefish and limestone flour she wasn't any different. The other two hens have no problems.I asked my vet (who has chickens himself) and he said he also has a hen that does the same and that some hens unfortunately just aren't able to process the calcium properly,so just to keep an eye on her to see she doesn't become unwell. He said that if I'm feeding them layers pellets that this should provide the calcium they need. In the morning I leave them in the run for a couple of hours so that they eat some pellets before hoovering other things up in the garden and later in the day I'll mix some probiotic yogurt with porridge oats,a bit of limestone flour and layers pellets,to get some more good things into them.

[chocolatedog]

Could she have suddenly become unable to process the calcium? She's been laying perfectly good eggs since the end of August and then suddenly 2 weeks ago started this strange softie cycle....... Some of the harder eggs are very pale shells with a funny pinky-brown 'crown' to them....... mystifying.....