[MrsJ]

One of my two new girls, the Warren (Petula) has started to lay lovely brown eggs and is already on 1 per day, although still quite small (the eggs, not the hen).  The other, a Bluebell (Bella) is laying soft shelled eggs.  Most of these are getting trampled on.  She's only just started laying - will she grow out of it?  They're all on layers pellets, with a scant handful of grain in the morning and evening, so they should be getting all the calcium they need.  Any ideas?

[chrismahon]

Bluebells are strange nervous creatures MrsJ. Obviously the diet is correct. Their inner stress can cause soft eggs but should stop in time. Ours was exactly the same. She started soft shelled, then they were OK for a while, then in Winter they went thin shelled which we put down to lack of sunlight as they need vitamin D to coat the egg and they have dark skin anyway, then they were OK most of the time, then thin and broken for 3 months so it was time to go. I now think Bluebells don't mix well with other breeds as I've heard of this problem before. I know someone who has three on their own and they are excellent layers of good large eggs.

[in the hills]

Thats interesting. We have 2 bluebelles, in with RIRs, araucanas, ex-batts, etc. They came into lay when expected, all quite normal and lay well but they are not as tame as even our supposedly flighty Friesians. Certainly not as calm and friendly as our other types of hybrid ..... you literally fall over these and have to be careful not to step on them!
 
I have had other types of hybrid lay soft shelled eggs initially. Usually sort themselves out pretty quickly.