Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[SLK69]

Hi

 

This may sound like an egg question but it is really a hen behaviour one - one of my hens or maybe 2, I don't know, but anyway someone lays a soft egg about twice a week - but they lay it through the night or very early morning and drop it into the poop tray.

 

Do you think they do this on purpose because they know it is a dodgy egg or it just falls out at night because it has no shell - they are whole - just covered with a thick skin and I can pick them out the tray easily and straight to the compost - no amount of extra calcium etc has stopped these shell-less eggs. Rest of the eggs are fine with extra "Ooops, word censored!"bly calcium deposits.

 

So is it behavioural or biological?

 

Susie

[stoice]

Sometimes a softie doesn't feel like a normal egg, I usually find they are dropped where ever the hen is at the time, just like a poo. If they are young girls then their egg laying tackle is just settling down and should right itself eventually. My ex-batt often lays softies (Membrane only surrounding yolk or broken egg with paper ribbon-like shell passed last) and she's over 18months old. I find that limestone flour in a porridgey mash every other day usually gives her a helping hand