Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Lavenders_Blue]

I got up yesterday morning to let the girls out and was surprised to find a burst softie in the nestbox. Little Rosie had very mucky knickers so I suspect it was hers.

I hoped it was just a blip, but this morning when I opened up again there was another on the floor of the hen house. Weirdly the yolk had been layed separately to the white which was encased in the intact membrane.

 

These are the first softies any of the girls have laid since we rescued them 6 months ago

 

All the other girls are still laying good, strong eggs thankfully.

 

Today I baked an eggshell and ground it up into some mash porridge and fed it to Rosie. She wolfed it down so at least I know she's had some extra calcium. I'll do the same again tomorrow. If she's not right by Tuesday I'll see if I can get some Zolcal D for her.

 

I'm reluctant to add limestone flour to their food as I don't want to be giving the other girls too much calcium. They have ex batts crumb and free access to mixed oystershell and stone grit so should be getting plenty of calcium. They don't get many treats, just a couple of handfuls of greens between them per day. Little Rosie just seems to need a boost at the moment for some reason

[kinsk]

I am at a loss with the softies too. We had a few the first couple of weeks of having our 3 ex bats. Then last week three eggs one day, the next day 1 egg and 2 softies, then three the next day

[Lavenders_Blue]

Well thankfully Rosie has layed nothing at all today. Hopefully she will give herself a little rest to build her calcium levels back up again before laying any more eggs.

 

I'm just a bit confused why this has happened all of a sudden. Perhaps she's just starting to slow down?

[coco]

Lily has just started laying again after five weeks of either softies or not laying at all. She started with very thin shelled eggs but is back to normal now and has laid everyday for the last week. I thought she had finished laying but she was just having a well earned rest.