My 5 rescue chooks are now well settled, we've been getting 3 eggs a day since we've had them, so somebody is not performing. My OH has a packet of Paxo hung in the avairy where they live horror of horror's this may have upset them :(

He was going to build a coop but DIY syndrome struck so I bought one on line. They now reside in a 4ft by 4ft mansion in the aviary. They are eating well.

Yesterday I found a very wobbly shaped egg in a nest box, it was crinkly at one end as though it had gone hard before getting properly formed and a bit bulbous at the other end, there was also a very small egg compared to the size of those we've be getting so far. Is it likely that these have come from the two hens that I think have taken a little longer to settle?

OH says that considering what they are eating the Paxo may have to be used  :(  I'll just slap him into place :-D

It sounds to me as though they aren't getting enough 'grit' in their daily meanderings! This often results in weak/misshapen eggs. I believe that not all chicks lay ALL the time...then they are sent to the hotpot! They are still in early days of rescue, give them a break! Take down the PAXO!!!!

> Take down the PAXO!!!!

The Paxo is due to be moved to OH's neck, these chooks are here to stay whether they lay or not but I will check out the grit situation for sure

mis shapen eggsa are quite normal and I would suggest more grit also. Do they live  in 4x4 feet???? :o that sounds too small for 5 hens......gosh when we had 4 hens in a "coop" it was only at night and it was 5X4 with double height perches but once sun was Up they were outside foraging and ranging naturally.....NEVEr actually had to live in the small space.

Hi Sam

The coop is sleeping quarters and egg laying area, it's actually in a 21ft by 14ft avairy, they also go out in the garden in a very large run, I can't let them totally loose as my small dogs are too keen to get at them :(

that sounds fine if they have outside access like that they should be finding their own grit. Another idea we have always done is put crushed eggshells from when we use their eggs, on a baking tray and keep it in bottom of the aga all the time so that they are baked over several days......then feed them back to the hens. make sure they are broken up fine and well baked, so as not to encourage egg eating habits developing though!

Yes we're doing the egg shell recycling, I knew I'd find a use for my old pessle and mortar thingy :)

They come out of the bum soft though so is it srinkly as it touched straw etc as it went hard?

> They come out of the bum soft though

Now that I didn't know, the chook that laid this one must have been sat right down on her 'fufu' :)

> the chook that laid this one must have been sat right down on her 'fufu'

think i would also sit on my fufu the size of an egg coming out of there soft or not

>They come out of the bum soft though

Having kept hens, seen eggs being laid and picked them up immediately after laying, I can assure you that they're hard-shelled when they're laid!

> Having kept hens, seen eggs being laid and picked them up immediately after laying, I can assure you that they're hard-shelled when they're laid

i have also kept hens, and i can assure you they come out soft and take around 15 to 30 seconds to harden up, i often found the shells with imprints of straw on.

Then our hens (of many different breeds) were all freaks! The eggs they laid were warm and wet, but the shells were hard, even when immediately from the hen. Perhaps yours didn't have enough calcium in their diet?

perhaps you dont get to them when they are soft. but i can assue you they are soft when they are first laid.

tried to find something on t'internet to back my statement up this is what i found from wikipeadia

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_chicken_eggs_soft_when_layed

>tried to find something on t'internet to back my statement  up

Likewise. And found this. :-)

"The egg shell is hard at the time of laying "

According to your link, your hens were laying premature eggs; if they'd kept them inside a little longer they'd have been properly developed with a normal hard shell.

but isnt that just a random person answering a question? as opposed to wikki being an information site.

Wikipedia isn't a acceptable source for serious study, because it's not written by professionals, just like the Q&A site I linked to. (If you notice, the answer was a quote from this reference book.) University studies which cite Wiki as a reference source will be immediately failed.

I think the answer lies in PREMATURELY laid eggs!

I, too, have kept chooks and always had hard shells! The fact that they're soft gives me an impression that the diet is inadequate. Most people don't realise how much grit, or baked shell if grit isn't readily available, the choocks need for hard shells.

nope in fairness its not but this site is and it states that eggs can be soft when being laid if done so prematurely... :)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1886870

>I think the answer lies in PREMATURELY laid eggs!

Yes, all the various sources agree that the shells will be soft at the time of laying if they're premature, just as premature babies are often born covered in hair. Normal eggs are hard-shelled when laid (and babies without hairy bodies!).

I'd love a job that allows me to surf the net all day! Where do you work for having such lenient bosses?? Probably the Council!!! :-p

> I'd love a job that allows me to surf the net all day! Where do you work for having such lenient bosses?? Probably the Council!!! :-p <IMG class=qButton title="Quote selected text" alt="Quote selected text" src="/images/mi_quote.gif">

hee hee
no council.
software company

>Where do you work for having such lenient bosses??

Ah, I don't go into work till this afternoon. :-) I'm my own boss this morning! :-D

Ohh I know you don't JG hunni....XXXX ;-)

I have 8 hens and they all lay hard eggs. Always have.

All my eggs are laid hard too! :-) If you feed the hens layers pellets you don't need to feed extra grit, that is already in the layers pellets. 
Are all the combs on top of their heads bright red?  Or only three of them?  A healthy red comb usually shows a healthy hen, that is laying.  I think some are probably just taking longer to settle than other.

> All my eggs are laid hard too!

That'll be your chickens eggs I suppose :-D

> Are all the combs on top of their heads bright red?

Excellent point, now I come to think of it two of them have paler combs, they were all very very pale when we got them and the chicken woman that rescues them said the combs would go more red as their health improved. The combs on three have become nice and red and are standing up now, but two are still a little pale and flopped over although not as much as when we got them. So that could be it.

We do feed layers pellets plus corn and layers mash and every veggie scrap from our house and neighbours, their little lad even goes worm hunting :-D They also eat parrot and parakeet food.

I must admit I've never heard of eggs being laid soft. I assume the mechanics are the same as in the parrot/parakeet world and we've never had a soft egg when breeding our birds.

>> All my eggs are laid hard too!
> That'll be your chickens eggs I suppose :-D

Pleeease, time of the month is bad enough with out hard eggs :-D

:-D