Strange soft egg(s) laid?

[MrsC]

Hi all

My Speckeldy (Ruby - 1 yr old) laid the most bizarre soft egg today, well 2 in fact. The girls were doing the usual run around whilst I was sorting out water/feed etc. Ruby who was close by looked like she was about to lay. She pottered around for a while and then suddenly laid a soft shelled egg, a proper soft shell attached to which was an egg without a shell. Couldn't get a picture because the girls then ate it. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen. She was fine afterwards running around.

I have had a couple of soft shelled eggs plus a girl who egg bound last year, they have plenty of oyster shell etc. Anyone else experienced this?

[mr darcy]

once had something a bit like this, must be oviduct production line all out of synchro! i'm sure more knowledgeable people will put me straight!!

[Suechooks]

My 3 and 4 year olds do this occasionally. It seems to be when they're going to moult or are coming back in to lay after a while. I suspect it happens more than we know as they're eaten before you see them if they do it in the run. Have had a couple done in nest box and left there - quite bizarre when you go to pick it up thinking it's a normal one!

[Scarlet]

I've got a bantam silver sussex that doesn't lay much, if at all!! When she eventually decides to lay an egg it does have a shell but it doesn't have a yolk!

[MrsC]

My 3 and 4 year olds do this occasionally. It seems to be when they're going to moult or are coming back in to lay after a while. I suspect it happens more than we know as they're eaten before you see them if they do it in the run. Have had a couple done in nest box and left there - quite bizarre when you go to pick it up thinking it's a normal one!

Hi SueChooks

Think you've hit the nail on the head there. During the usual egg hunt in the hen house noticed lots of feathers from Ruby, think it's a moult. I've had a few soft shelled but not like what she laid, it was 2 eggs attached, strange thing it was. Sure it's moulting though. She looked a bit sad today perching in the run when I got home just like they can do when they moult.

[frias]

I've got a bantam silver sussex that doesn't lay much, if at all!! When she eventually decides to lay an egg it does have a shell but it doesn't have a yolk!

That's strange. I've got an old ex-batt that lays just a yoke. No shell or white, sometimes it's possible to pick it up without making a mess at all.

[mr darcy]

Penny (LS) laid her first egg the other day, it had a shell but no yolk! bless her, i put it in the herby omlette last night!