harryissy Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Pepper has been doing some very strange things lately. For the past couple of weeks she has laid eggs with no shells,often in the nesting box at night or very early morning and sometimes around the garden where I find the remains. At other times she sits on the nesting box or in a favourite spot under the hedge as if she's about to lay, she then gets up, rushes off to eat, just as she would have done if she had laid, but there's no sign of any egg. Twice I have seen her wandering around then crouch to the ground, stand up again, take a few more steps and then lay an egg which falls to the ground and breaks!!! I saw her do this today and she immediately ate the egg tho not the shell. She seems to be absolutely fine apart from all this! She free-ranges all day, is fed on layers' pellets which are in date, and gets very few treats. She was wormed with flubenvet about a month ago. Yesterday I started to add a calcium supplement and Lifeguard to her drinking water. Any suggestions as to what is up with her and how to treat her would be gratefully received...as I said she seems to be in the best of health apart from the erratic egg laying!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Im not sure about her not crouching to lay but I'm sure someone else will know more.... As for the soft eggs it is not unusual for chickens to realise they can make a tasty snack and it can be a hard habit to break although I think I've managed to stop my egg eater. As for helping stopping the soft eggs you are doing the right thing with the calcium, do they have access to grit too? Sometimes soft eggs happen because the chicken is laying too often before the shells form, so it's just a case of waiting until the egg laying settles back into a pattern. Try and remove all eggs as often as possible to stop the egg eating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryissy Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Hello, Thanks for your reply. Laying eggs with no shells because she is laying too often makes sense as there have usually been more that 1 per day. The only ones she has eaten have been those that have dropped to the ground when she was standing. The times she has actually laid in the nesting box or in one of the 'secret' places they have under the hedge she hasn't eaten the egg,also she doesn't eat any of the eggs laid by our other chuck. I'm not really worried about her....just curious to know what is going on!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearls007 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Our Rosie is laying a lot of softies too - I started a thread "Help! My chicken is laying too many eggs". She normally lays them out in the run - I've only ever had one under the roosting bars - and she doesn't crouch to lay them - so they drop and roll - but I have managed to rescue the last five before they were trodden on! When she is brewing softies she carries her tail differently so I hang around and wait. When she lays normal eggs they are laid in the morning in the nest box - but softies seem to be laid in the late afternoon/early evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryissy Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 It sounds very much as if Pepper and Rosie are doing very similar things!!! Today pepper seemed off=colour for the first time though I wondered if it was due to the heat. Eventually she laid under the hedge, early afternoon. It was a shell-less egg intact in the membrane with a soft scrunched up shell beside it! I just hope that the calcium supplement and lifeguard begin to help soon. I have also put down a supply of grit and oyster shell tho I don't think she has taken any of it. Let's hope they get back to normal soon!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearls007 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 No softies from Rosie yesterday - so this morning I'm waiting to see if we get a proper egg. Hendrix is currently in the nest box. I haven't given any supplements - both are on the same diet and Henddrix' eggs are fine - I am 100% sure that it's just because the eggs shoot through Rosie's system too fast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 sounds promising then! fingers crossed for a proper egg soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearls007 Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Yup! Having taken yesterday as her day off Rosie produced a normal egg this morning - neatly in the nestbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 That's good to hear Hopefully a normal egg again today or another day off. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pearls007 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Hurrah! Another normal egg day. Rosie accompanied it with a loud and long rendition of the "Egg Song". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Well done Rosie Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryissy Posted April 30, 2011 Author Share Posted April 30, 2011 Hurrah!!! For 2 days running Pepper has lad normal eggs...though in just about the most inaccesible spot in the garden, ie under the hedge where there are lots of brambles!! Hopefully we are back to normality and all the efforts with calcium and supplements have finally worked. Hope Rosie is continuing to lay well. Thanks for all the helpful posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
