Young chicken laying and eating soft eggs!

[genesis1981]

I got two chicks this spring, we think they are somewhere between Sapphire Easter Egger and Blue Andelusion. One is quite ahead of the game, large and laying big blue green eggs. She’s so big we thought she was a roo initially. The other is very tiny/petite and sweet and she’s been consistently laying tiny light brown eggs. Then last week she started laying soft shell eggs at random times. They seem to be sometimes coming on the same days she lays her little he’s shell eggs! My husband and I observed her in the garden just fluff up and squat and lay one and all the hens came over and they all started eating it shell and all! Now she seems to go into the coop to lay the soft ones in the pine shavings which she then eats and eats some of the shavings too. I cannot monitor her all day to stop her from doing this. She’s very happy and normal otherwise. Eats her oyster shell and running around like normal. She’s 20 weeks old. So- what the heck gives? And what should I do?? Posting a pic of her next to another chicken to show how small she is. She’s in the foreground.

 

[Beachcomber]

Hello,
I had something similar happen with my Sapphire Gem recently when she first started laying. She would lay a normal hard egg in the nesting box & then later one or more softies on the ground in the coop which she would promptly try to eat. She was getting a good diet as well with plenty of oyster shells. It seems this is a quite common occurrence with new layers & things normalized after a couple of weeks & now she's laying with no issues.
I also have an Easter Egger pullet who is considerably smaller than the rest of the flock. I believe many of the breed tend to run small but are healthy otherwise.

 

[genesis1981]

Hello,
I had something similar happen with my Sapphire Gem recently when she first started laying. She would lay a normal hard egg in the nesting box & then later one or more softies on the ground in the coop which she would promptly try to eat. She was getting a good diet as well with plenty of oyster shells. It seems this is a quite common occurrence with new layers & things normalized after a couple of weeks & now she's laying with no issues.
I also have an Easter Egger pullet who is considerably smaller than the rest of the flock. I believe many of the breed tend to run small but are healthy otherwise.

This is comforting to read! I wonder if others are seeing similar behavior! They’ve been great chickens so far and seem very content and healthy otherwise so I’m not overly worried unless someone here tells me to be! Thanks!

 

[aart]

How long has the softshell layer been laying?
It can take up to a month or so for things to smooth out.
Thin or soft shelled eggs are fair game for eating, IMO, but best to grab them up whenever possible.

So you have older birds too?

What all and how exactly are you feeding?

 

[genesis1981]

Yes we have a few other birds. Two are older black Australorp. They’re all on the organic scratch and peck layer feed and they all have access and enjoy tons of oyster shell. They have several hours of free range in my garden a day. They were getting into the tomatoes for a while and most stopped laying as much so once I fenced that off everyone’s been laying like crazy (I’ve read tomatoes decrease laying a lot). But this little new hen started lying softies. She had only been laying a few weeks.

 

[aart]

They’re all on the organic scratch and peck layer feed

Is it the cracked grain version, or crumbles/pellets?
Cracked grain feeds should be wetted or fermented, or the fines(vitamins/minerals/amino acids) sift to the bottom and don't get eaten.