Pullets laying soft eggs

Hi everyone,
I have 5 Easter Egger pullets that are around 21 wks old and some of them are consistently laying soft-shelled eggs. One has been laying perfect eggs with hard shells from wk 17 on and every couple days I get a good shelled egg other than hers, but most have no shells. I've been feeding them Prostock layer ration from wk 17 on and do give them access to oyster shell but they hardly touch it. One of the hens really looks sick before she lays the soft eggs- anxious and won't eat/drink for a couple hours then I find the soft egg. She's fine afterwards.

Is this normal while they get their systems working or is there a bigger issue here?

Thanks for any help you can offer,
Lisa

PS This is my first hatch of pullets so it's all new to me!

Hi Lisab,

Do you remember how many were laying at 17 weeks when you switched to layer? It seems very young to me for an EE to be laying then and wonder if you triggered premature laying in the others by putting them on layer so young......

Hum, the one that first laid was the EE x polish (major mutt ) and two other EE's started about a week or so later. The other 4 EE's are 'pure EE' for lack of a better word. I switched feed slowly by mixing their chick starter with the layer ration for a week. I looked back in my calendar and I was a little off, she laid the first egg during the 18th week but it was still rather early.

I didn't know you could cause premature laying by switching feed, I just wanted to make sure they weren't calcium deficient after they started laying! You learn something new every day...

I am not sure if switching food can cause them to start laying too soon, but too much light can.
There is a disease that can cause soft shelled eggs, can't remember what it is right now, but if they all seem fine otherwise I would think they are just getting their systems adjusted.
It is a concern that the one seems unwell before she lays her egg. Maybe they are lacking something, have you ever seen them eat the oyster shell? Maybe they are not sure what it is?

Hidden River wrote:I am not sure if switching food can cause them to start laying too soon, but too much light can.
There is a disease that can cause soft shelled eggs, can't remember what it is right now, but if they all seem fine otherwise I would think they are just getting their systems adjusted.
It is a concern that the one seems unwell before she lays her egg. Maybe they are lacking something, have you ever seen them eat the oyster shell? Maybe they are not sure what it is?

Hidden, lisa didn't mention grower. She went from starter to grower. Any concerns with that? ANd yes, too much light causes the birds reproductive system to develop prematurely with the risk of laying sooner and their bodies not physically ready to push that egg out causing vent tearing. At least that is my understanding. But what about the lack of grower?

Having said all that, I don't think it's highly unusual for soft eggs to be laid in the beginning for some birds. The question is, how long is too long?

I'm not very good at this today!!! Sorry guys, it was from grower to layer... I'll blame it on being Friday and spring time.

I agree how long is too long, before I would start wondering what is wrong.
Lisa how long have they been laying these eggs for, and do you notice some shell on sometimes and nothing other times, just a balloon?
Also how much light are they getting?

The soft eggs are on and off since they started laying 4wks ago. I think they have really thin shells because I can make out the green tinge on the soft ones (I'm assuming the color comes from the shell?). Yesterday the two they laid were hard shelled but the previous day I had one hard shelled and 2 soft. Next time I get a soft shell I'll take a closer look and a picture.

Their light is on from 6am-7pm, should I reduce it or since the days are getting longer it's probably too late.

I really doubt that the switch to layer caused early laying but supplemental lighting can certainly stimulate an earlier onset of puberty. In any case, I always notice more softies when the young girls just start laying and their reproductive system is still a bit immature. I would try giving some supplemental calcium in the form of wet mashes by mixing their layer crumbles with powdered milk and warm water or, you can offer yogurt. This should sort things out in a couple of weeks.

No softies yesterday. After all the talk on light I realized the soft eggs really started up just after the time change. I need their coop light on for chores at 6am so that added an extra hour of light plus the days are getting longer now.

Thanks for all the info and possible remedies- I'll give them some plain yogurt today. I'll also plan any new layers around any annoying time changes and keep a closer eye on the amount of light they get!