Uploaded February 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Recently I’ve been finding some unusual eggs in my nest box. And that’s because some of my hens are getting old. One of the signs that a hen’s egg laying equipment is getting old and running out is that the egg shells start to get pale. And sometimes they start to get a bit bumpy. Sometimes the egg shells get thin and brittle, even though the hen has a good diet with plenty of calcium. As you can imagine, soft-shelled eggs are a bit of a nuisance, because if she lays them in the nest box, the next hen that comes along is going to sit on it, break it, and we’re going to have a mess of egg all over the other eggs in our nest box. And if the hens notice that and decide to peck at it, as of course they will, then what they might do is start to get a taste for raw egg, and start eating their own eggs, and that’s something that we definitely want to avoid. So apart from the mess, we’ve really got to keep those soft-shelled eggs out of the nest box.
And a couple of times, she’s laid an egg without any shell at all! An egg without an eggshell is a very strange looking thing. It’s weird. It’s just held together with the membrane that would normally be on the inside of the eggshell. Soft-shelled eggs, or even eggs with no shells, are fairly common in older hens, especially the commercial hybrids. The commercial hybrids are specially bred as egg-laying machines. They lay flat out for about 18 months, and then they’re disposed of. But if you keep your hens for longer or take on a rescue hen, you might find weird eggs too, even an egg without a shell.
If you want to know what happens to Goodness and whether she ever lays a normal egg again, keep in touch, subscribe to my channel, and then you’ll always know what’s happening with the chickens in my garden.
Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
youtube.com/channel/UCVjpcGev8F6SUzE2pMz5Ztg/featured
Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
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Recently I’ve been finding some unusual eggs in my nest box. And that’s because some of my hens are getting old. One of the signs that a hen’s egg laying equipment is getting old and running out is that the egg shells start to get pale. And sometimes they start to get a bit bumpy. Sometimes the egg shells get thin and brittle, even though the hen has a good diet with plenty of calcium. As you can imagine, soft-shelled eggs are a bit of a nuisance, because if she lays them in the nest box, the next hen that comes along is going to sit on it, break it, and we’re going to have a mess of egg all over the other eggs in our nest box. And if the hens notice that and decide to peck at it, as of course they will, then what they might do is start to get a taste for raw egg, and start eating their own eggs, and that’s something that we definitely want to avoid. So apart from the mess, we’ve really got to keep those soft-shelled eggs out of the nest box.
And a couple of times, she’s laid an egg without any shell at all! An egg without an eggshell is a very strange looking thing. It’s weird. It’s just held together with the membrane that would normally be on the inside of the eggshell. Soft-shelled eggs, or even eggs with no shells, are fairly common in older hens, especially the commercial hybrids. The commercial hybrids are specially bred as egg-laying machines. They lay flat out for about 18 months, and then they’re disposed of. But if you keep your hens for longer or take on a rescue hen, you might find weird eggs too, even an egg without a shell.
If you want to know what happens to Goodness and whether she ever lays a normal egg again, keep in touch, subscribe to my channel, and then you’ll always know what’s happening with the chickens in my garden.
Chickens in my garden - New Zealand
youtube.com/channel/UCVjpcGev8F6SUzE2pMz5Ztg/featured
Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Follow me on Google+ plus.google.com/u/0/b/105948206899891481362/105948206899891481362/posts/p/pub
