Soft Shelled Eggs

*** Soft Shelled Chicken Eggs ***

Soft shelled eggs a quite common with new layers as their body starts to adjust to laying life and is also common in older birds coming towards the end of their laying life. Soft shelled eggs can also occur throughout a chickens laying life as well, so in this article we look at the reasons why and what we can do as poultry keepers to help.

Understand Shell Structure
Eggshell main ingredients are calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and calcium phosphate, as well as soluble and insoluble proteins. 95% of the eggshell is calcium carbonate, the same sturdy substance that makes up coral, limestone and seashells. It takes approximately 2 grams of calcium carbonate for a backyard hen to form each egg and to come up with the necessary calcium each day, the hen borrows it directly from its own bones, wings and rib bones to contribute the calcium without impacting its health so that's why it's SO important feeding a balanced diet and foods containing calcium. An eggshell has an inner and outer membrane, a mammillary layer (a spongy layer) and (a cuticle layer) that is finished with calcium carbonate. A chicken is porous and the porous nature of the egg allows for gas transport between the interior and exterior of the egg and the eggshell can release carbon dioxide build-up inside while absorbing atmospheric air into the interior. If your chicken isn’t laying a structurally sound eggshell, its hormones, physiology and nutrition might not be working efficiently to support the egg-development process. If a hen isn’t consuming enough calcium for its for eggshell production, it may need more nutritional support.

Find Nutritional Balance
When a chick grows on, to egg laying maturity then it’s time to switch from a grower feed to a layer feed, however our advice is to wean from one to the other not make a direct switch as the chickens may not eat it, use a 50/50 mix for approximately 1 to 2 weeks before making the switch. Layers feed has a higher level of calcium in it than that of a grower feed, whilst a grower feed as more protein in than that of a layer feed. Most commercial feeds now days are a complete feed (includes everything a chicken needs) however, just like some humans some need more or less of certain nutrients in their diets and so do some chickens. Some chickens won’t get enough calcium from layer feed and they will need a supplement to support healthy egg production. Many people feed different types of greens, such as cabbage, spinach, mustard greens, turnip greens, asparagus, okra, green beans which are all high in calcium. Chickens will also eat banana, watermelon, strawberries and even tomatoes, basically these birds like to eat and have a high motabilism and therefore will eat nearly anything. Free-range chickens will also eat grass, insects, earthworms, grubs and whatever else they may scratch up from flowerbeds and lawns. This variety can be good, but it’s important to keep an eye on the consumption of the balanced feed diet. Just like some people who might choose to eat too many pizza's over a naturally balanced diet. 

Feed Nutritious Treats and Supplements

So here we look at what we can do to help chickens that are laying soft shelled eggs and what "stuffs" and "supplements" we can give to support egg laying chickens and the egg laying process.

Oyster Shell

The traditional calcium supplement for a layer diet is oyster shells. Oyster shells look a bit like grit and are ground to the point that hens don’t have to work to eat them. It is recommended that ALL chickens have their own ad-lib access to oyster shell, putting it out a separate dishes or pots, which the chickens will eat it when they need it. “If it’s available to them, the hens will consume enough to keep their own shells hard.”

Rock Phosphate
Phosphorus isn’t as big a deal as calcium, but it’s also important and interrelated. Chickens need a ratio of 1 part phosphorus to 2 parts calcium. You can purchase defluorinated rock phosphate in grit or powder form and put it out in a bowl for free-feeding just as you would oyster shell.

Crushed Eggshells
Many, many chicken keepers use crushed eggshells, yes egg shells can also be fed back to chickens in a separate bowl. It is recommended baking the eggshells for approximately 30 minutes at around gas mark 4/5 to draw out the moisture and kill any lingering bacteria. Once the moisture is gone, the shell will be easier to crush down. The risk of feeding eggshells back to the flock is that they may become egg eaters, but this is more likely when feeding back whole or half eggshell's rather than crushed so by baking and crushing the egg shell and then feeding back will be no different to that of feeding oyster shell, if you feed back whole or half egg shell and your chickens become egg eaters (breaking into and consuming their own eggs) before they can be collected, then this is something that's really hard to break. 

Liquid supplements like "Agrivite Enhance" and "Shell Aid" can be used within your chickens water to help supplement calcium and vitamin D3, however it is only recommended you use these products when you have "ongoing" problems with soft shelled eggs, please note that soft shelled eggs can just be a blip and usually righten a day or two after but for sustained or ongoing problems you will be best using something like these. These products are an intensive calcium and vitamin D3 liquid supplement for the development of bone strength, egg shell quality and to support feathering. Vitamin D3 enables the chickens body to absorb the calcium, the micro element Magnesium is essential for the bone and eggshell quality matrix. You will need to add 5ml per 1 litre drinking for for a period of 3-7 days and it's recommended to replace the water daily, so if you use these products then only make up enough that you need therefore none goes to waste. 

My Chicken Looks ill/poorly

Chickens that are laying soft shelled eggs may give an appearance of looking ill or poorly (hunched, withdrawn, not moving, tail down) or even look egg bound, the reason for this is because it is extremely difficult for a chicken to lay a soft shelled egg as it can get stuck or sometimes even break being like rubber or so thin shell. Another reason why they can become ill or poorly is because if a chicken lays soft shelled eggs for a sustained period of time the chicken will naturally take calcium from it's own bones, ribs and wings which can make the chicken malnourished and weak and often can lead to death. This is why it is SO important feeding a well balanced diet and if you see any soft shelled eggs you try and correct this as soon as you can. Chicken keepers can also bring this on themselves though by feeding too many treats or foods that aren't good for the chickens or not within it's natural diet, yes the odd treat won't hurt but sustained treats will, it's like egg Mcdonalds every day as apposed to a salad, you get the gist. 

Other Factors To Consider/Reasons For Soft Shelled Eggs

Hot days

Thin egg shells or shell-less eggs can occur more frequently on hot days. This is associated with a lower food intake and shell thickness / shell will return to normal when the temperature drops again and your chicken’s food intake returns to normal. There have been some mentions of this in commercial farming where they see lower intakes of food on hot days and lower shell quality.

Overweight hens

Chickens that are over weight can stop producing eggs altogether or produce lower quality eggs, sometimes with missing shells. Take a look at the breast of your birds, when the feathers are parted, you should see the skin is thin (almost like tracing paper) where the breast bone protrudes forward. If there is a thick skin, or you can’t see the breast bone clearly, the chances are your birds are carrying too much fat.

Other reasons for soft-shelled eggs

If the above doesn’t seem to be the cause in your case or soft-shelled eggs are being laid regularly, then there could be a number of other reasons:

• Inflamation of the oviduct (and there isn’t anything that can be done about this as far as I know).
• Stress. The problem usually goes away once the cause of stress is removed. Keep an eye out for bullying / feather picking, especially if it is occurring around the nest boxes and you are finding the soft-shelled eggs outside of the nest boxes. Apple Cider Vinegar is good to help hens with stress.

Soft shelled eggs laid once in a while are nothing to worry about. Hens that are at the start of their laying period, or have come to the end of it, often lay a soft-shelled egg.

Video

Here's a video taken from Poultrykeeper about soft shelled egg's. 

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