Point of lay hens laying soft eggs

[Anonymous]

Hi

We jsut got our first 3 point of lay chickens.
They seem happy and are eating they layer pellets
but they are laying small soft shelled eggs. I know they lay small eggs early on but is the soft shells normal?
i know you need to give them broken up oyster shells for the soft shells normaly but what other alternative are there cos i dont live close to the sea
tom

 

[foxy]

It is not unusual for POL to lay soft shelled eggs initially as they get into the swing of laying.
To ensure that laying stays on track make sure that their diet consists in the main of the layers pellets as they are constituted to provide a balanced diet including the necessary calcium etc for laying.

You can purchase crushed oyster shell on-line from good suppliers like Wells Poultry and PandT poultry. In the interim crushing baked egg shell will give them a little calcium boost - thats if you are getting any hard shelled eggs!

Good luck and congratulations on your new hens!