what the...

For the past few days we keep finding these weird shells in the coop. One of our girls still isn't laying but all the others have been laying fine (though some of the eggs have been a bit paler than usual).

does anyone know what is going on?

 

Forgot to add the picture..

 

That looks like the menbane of the egg, so i'm going to watch is thread
@Lolimac will know

 

Does that suggest she might start laying soon then?

 

It looks like she's laying a softie and the innards are getting eaten.Have you got a dish of grit in the run? it'll harden up the shells.You can get it from your pet shop,get the one with crushed Oyster shell in if poss,can't remember the price but it's cheap enough also scatter some around your borders and she'll be aying proper eggs before you know it

 

Haven't got any grit to hand but will grab some. We've been feeding them crumble that apparently had some in it or something like that, but will see what we can grab extra

 

Here's some more info

http://poultrykeeper.com/egg-problems/soft-thin-or-missing-egg-shells

 

Good link there from Jiffy

You'll really see the difference when they get some,they need it

I like to scatter it amongst the borders hoping it takes their mind off wrecking the plants

When you say paler do you mean the yolks or the colour of the shells?
If it's the yolks they like more greens,hang a cabbage up they'll love that,lettuce is good too but too much can give them the runs,chard is a good one,you could grow some on your lotty
The colour of the shells is determined by the colour of their ears,my old Mabel is a lovely dark Rhody Hybrid and lays darker eggs where as my light Sussex Rhody X are a little lighter...

 

Your girl is laying soft shell eggs.
This indicates she is lacking in calcium. You could try oyster shell but I wouldn't bother with the expense myself. I simply bake the empty egg shells then crush them up and mix it in with their feed (I waste nothing ).

Grit is required, not to harden the shells (although, it *may* do) but primarily to grind up the food in the chooks tummy. Because they do not have teeth, the grit sits in their tummy and grinds the food down.

If your girls are free ranging, I would be surprised if their yolks are pale but, you can give them extra greens (any green vegetable really) and that will bring out the colour of the yolk.

The main issue with soft shell eggs would be that the inside of the egg will be eaten by your chooks. They may get to enjoy the taste to such an extent that they will crack open a good egg just to get to the yummy ness inside. So, when you have sorted out the soft shell issue, keep an eye on the good eggs just to check they haven't developed a taste for them.

 

Can you use Limestone as grit?

 

It can be hot days as well if the coop is small and they havnt been let out as much

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.

Its also the type of chicken you keep the modern breeds which lay more are more prone to soft shells and very rarely happens with the old style breeds.
Also as they get older

What type are they and how old

 

Picking up on what lolimac said about greens and cabbage giving them the runs. I read this a few weeks ago as all mine get is cabbage, so I started giving then dandilion leaves, doc leaves, nettles, comfrey leaves and grass and they love it. All free from the garden aswell.

 

Quick update!

We bought some mixed grit and oyster shell, plus some sunflower seeds to give them a bit of variety from their usual mealworms and crumble. They were more confused than anything but I'm being persistent and mixing it in well with their usual food. Found another crumbled shell when I was cleaning out the coop yesterday, but today Nando (the girl in question) was being rather vocal in the coop on her own when I went out the check on them. After she came out there was a small warmish normal egg and a cold one, but we've still only had 3 eggs today.

I'm presuming the warm egg was hers what with the noise, unless she was trying to lay but had no success. She's fine in herself and has actually been much more social over the last week or so, including coming up to us/following us which she wasn't doing before.

 

She's an exbat and was rescued in March. Not sure how old but the other 3 are all still laying daily.

 

The shells have been paler. The yolks have been a nice sunny colour. I keep offering them veggies including kale, lettuce, cabbage etc. They're not overly keen but it could be more to do with they don't realise it's food! They do LOVE eggshells though and I give some too them whenever we cook up their eggs.
I've just planted some chard seedlings actually. They're currently obsessed with sneaking pecks at my sweet pea though....