One of the most frequent causes of laying thin shell or soft eggs is a diet low in calcium. While most quality layer feeds have extra calcium in them, you should still offer a supplement just to make sure your hens get enough. If your laying chickens aren’t eating enough calcium, soft eggs aren’t your only concern.
This begs the question “Why does a chicken lay a soft shell egg?”
There are three main causes for the production of soft-shelled or shell-less eggs. The first is that there may be a lack of calcium in your hen’s diet. Hens require a lot of calcium to form each egg shell. You can add more calcium to your flock’s diet by adding crushed oyster shells to their feed.
This of course begs the query “What does it mean when chickens lay soft eggs?”
A soft egg can indicate any sort of illness, from a bacterial infection to a virus to trauma, and more. If you think your hen is sick, then only a vet can diagnose her exact illness and recommend a treatment. In my experience, once the illness is resolved, the hen starts laying healthy shelled eggs again.
In such cases, a hen may not lay an egg one day but may lay both a coated and a soft shell egg on the next. Here are some external factors for egg shell variations:.
What causes soft shell eggs to be soft?
Soft eggs, also called shell less eggs, soft shell eggs, partially shelled eggs, or rubber eggs, can be a sign of a few different factors, such as illness, age, and diet. One of the most frequent causes of laying thin shell or soft eggs is a diet low in calcium.
If your eggs are a little soft served for your liking, it’s an indication that your chickens probably need some more calcium in their diet. Normal layer feed that you’re giving your hens does have more calcium in it than other types of feed, as laying hens do need more than other types of chicken.
Why are my chickens’ eggs floppy?
This is because when the egg is being formed, the calcium for the shells is drawn from the hen’s bones. So, if your girls are calcium deficient, there won’t be enough calcium to form the strong egg shells – hence why they come out flimsy and floppy!