Sammiboo Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Bunty has been laying for a week now. she has been laying fine until the last couple of days, she her last three eggs have all been soft shell. is this just a phase or does she need to be trated? she has access to oyster shell but she is getting grit from her free ranging also. Yesterday when i got home from work she was still out free ranging as OH has been off work all day. OH said that she was not her self all day, she looked very sorry for herself and fluffed up. As it looked like she hasnt laid for the last couple of days i checked her rear end to make sure she wasnt egg bound. After i had a feel of her back end, she plopped an egg out in front of me. which was the first time i saw the softshell and she perked up no end. This morning i checked the cube after i let them out and there was a broken soft shell dropped below the perching bars, and i checked late morning and there was another below the perching bars. When she has laid her eggs normally she has gone in the nesting box. Her dropping dont look too good at the minute. Other than this she is very happy, the other 3 girls are ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckmum6 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 My Legbar has just come back into lay again, she laid at the end of January then stopped. Last night she was looking off, turned her beak up at the bedtime corn and went off to the nest box. I checked her later in the evening and she had laid one large softie with no yolk and a smaller softie with a large yoke, she seemed better. She has always been the one who lays extra large eggs or double yoked eggs, she has also been egg bound. I think it is just the nature of particular hens, so long as your girl has access to grit etc, there is little more you can do, once she gets into the swing of laying, she should be ok. That is what I'm hoping anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 I posted about one of mine laying softies HERE I think that you need to ensure a good intake of pellets of mash and supplement her with 1 form of calcium and vitamin D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percy049 Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Binnie's just started laying. She laid 3 perfectly good eggs, but then she's laid about 4/5 softies. She's got constant access to grit, and we've put ACV and liquid calcium in their water. We've also reduced the amount of treats she's getting. Any other advice? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 It's quite normal for hens to lay soft shelled eggs when they first come into lay, even if they've already laid a few normal eggs. No need to worry about it, or medicate unless it continues beyond a couple of weeks or so. As long as the hens have good quality layers mash/pellets and access to grit (both oystershell and flint grit, as they are for different purposes) that should be all they need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
