# Shell-less eggs



## sarahjanelutz (Jul 23, 2012)

I have six chickens, four are pretty steady layers and good quality eggs. I expected the last two to begin laying in the next few weeks and this morning I discovered two eggs in the nest box that were shell-less. I am pretty sure it is my last two hens starting to lay, cause I haven't had this problem with the other four. They are spoiled chickens for the most part, I feed them organic egg laying food, give them plenty of oyster shells and grit, plenty of scratch and treat them with kale, squash, etc, and I even treat them with yogurt now and again.

The temperatures here in Oregon are beginning to drop (30's) and the only thing I have done differently is to shut them in at night, closing off their door so less draft. Could that have something to do with the shell-less eggs. I heard that stress can cause that as well.


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## KenimokPoultry (Oct 31, 2012)

Its very common for a hens first egg or couple eggs to be shell less or double yokers or other problems...Wait a few days and their cycles should figure themselves out. you shouldn't be alarmed yet


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## stu-hens (Jul 18, 2012)

I'm having a similar problem but not with new layers.I also have 6 hens first 3 are in their 2nd year and i have 3 which have been laying since end of august.

The problem lies with the older hens who went into molt once i added young hens and now they are laying again but soft shells and today found one under perch and still warm at 7.30pm at night??

They seem to have forgotten how to lay and what time to lay?
Is this common in 2nd year of lay??


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## sarahjanelutz (Jul 23, 2012)

*Shell-less*

Here is a really stupid question. My chickens lay at all different times of the day. It is 4:00 p.m. where I live and I just got my last egg for the day. My four that are laying great start about 8:00 in the morning and lay at about two or three hour intervals. I don't mind, but just wanted to check to see if they should all be doing it at the same time. I only have three nest boxes, they only lay in one or two, but they can't all be in there at the same time. Although I went into the coop the other day and one chicken was sitting on top of the other while she was trying to lay and it was the chicken on top's first egg and she just laid it right in my hand. Very cool actually. The last two that laid the shell-less this morning laid them in the only nest box that hasn't had eggs in it and there they were right next to each other.


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## CharlieEcho (Nov 25, 2012)

*Inexperienced Chickens;*

Our entire flock of chickens is less than a year old. When they first started laying we had numerous double yokers. I think they've figuered it out for the most part. We did have a surprise though the other day. See the picture. We have had a few softer shells in past years but none recently. I think it's a common with young and very old chickens, ie; beginners and retirees.

I will try and find another picture from many years ago of an egg even larger with another surprise inside. "Pre-computer age" picture.


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## sarahjanelutz (Jul 23, 2012)

Oh my gosh! That is huge. We have all sizes, but that takes the cake. What breed of chicken laid that?


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## KenimokPoultry (Oct 31, 2012)

stu-hens - Do you give your hens oyster shell or feed them their old egg shells mashed up? If you don't, then that could be the simple solution to your soft eggs. but it could also be more complicated.

sarahjanelutz - Each hen is an individual, so she will have an individual egg laying cycle.

Good luck everyone


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## kimberley (Sep 8, 2012)

mine occasionally lay a soft egg but not often. i think sometimes it just happens.


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## fuzziebutt (Aug 7, 2012)

The odd eggs are called "ladder eggs", eggs going up the cycle, or down the laying cycle. I have an egg around here somewhere that is about the size of a quarter. Here it is!!! It's blurry, but you should be able to tell the size of it.








As far as the time they lay, a chicken can lay an egg approx. every 26 hours, so that is not the exact time of day every day.


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## CharlieEcho (Nov 25, 2012)

*Buff's*



sarahjanelutz said:


> Oh my gosh! That is huge. We have all sizes, but that takes the cake. What breed of chicken laid that?


We have Buff Orpingtons, for the most part, a few Wyandottes and a couple of Bard Rocks. Given the location of the egg I would give credit to a Buff. The Orpingtons seem to prefer laying iside the barn and only sometimes in the hen house. The Dottes and Rocks prefer the hen house.

I'll get into the family album sometime today and scan a picture from over thirty years ago. It will show a very large brown egg beside two regular eggs in front of a ruler. I believe at that time we had Rhode Island Reds.

There are several other things that might contribute to no shells or very soft shells. We have oyster shell available for our chickens and we also save egg shells to pitch in with their scratch feed.


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## stu-hens (Jul 18, 2012)

I feed layers mash/pellets and they have outside space and there is a constant supply of oyster shell and grit, they hardly touch it but i like to provide it,the year old hens were great for first year but again today have an egg which nearly collapsed in my hand in nest box and one under perches still warm so must have been layed this eve as i dont get in from work til 7pm and they are all in roosting.youngsters are all laying great eggs so dont believe its diet or conditions.


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## CharlieEcho (Nov 25, 2012)

*Years ago;*

I'd posted earlier about a large egg we had received years ago. Here are the pictures. We had Rhode Island Reds at the time. They were 4-H projects for our kids. These are from 1979. I scanned the two, before and after, together. I'm not sure how old the hens were when they laid these. The second picture is of a very small egg. Not as small as the quarter sized egg above but very nearly. These would have been in the same year I'm sure....

Yes it's true there was another full sized egg  inside the larger one. There was no yoke in the "big" egg. There was only one in the "inside" egg.


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