I wonder if you can tell me what might be wrong. Our two rescue chickens laid eggs daily, one each, for a month but suddenly stopped about 2 weeks ago. 4 days ago, my partner found one egg, but with a soft shell. From information I've gleaned, much of it here, hens can go off the lay for a "holiday" but I've no idea how long they do this for, and somewhere I've read that soft-shelled eggs are almost invariably a sign of sickness.
We've let them free range in a large area near our veggie patch til now, feeding them supplements of a little corn & more recently (since they stopped laying) what I think must be layers pellets...( not always easy to tell because no-one here speaks English & my Greek is not up to technical jargon, especially about chickens). Do they need oyster shell, for calcium? Is there any other source of calcium? Is it something else that's wrong? The nearest vet is a couple of hours away by car on very bad mountain roads, so I'd like to avoid having to take them there, if possible. I'd be grateful for your advice.