[Christine B]

Hello from sunny France (the volcanic dust hasn't reached us yet)

We have had our chickens for a year now and they are laying well and looking very healthy thanks to all the advice I have gleaned from this site!

However this week there have been a few eggs laid with that thin wobbly, almost transparent shell.  I am sure there is a proper term for it but I can't find it in any of my books!

I'm sure you will know what I mean and can explain it to me so can I ask for your help please?

I'm assuming they are all being laid by the same hen but I don't know which one.
We have six French Marans (four red and two black) and they lay one egg each per day (most days)
We feed them on layer's pellets and they roam around the garden picking up other nice titbits. (including my new bedding plants if I don't watch the little monkeys!)

So is there any thing I can do?  Is it caused by a deficiency of something? How can I discover which hen is the culprit short of sitting there and watching all day?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thank you

[little blue]

do they have access to grit?
obvious but still....

Having said that, ours do yet we sometimes get these - my husband calls them "inside out eggs!"

[Christine B]

They live in a huge fenced off area of the garden with plenty of access to grit, then they are let out into the garden and orchard for at lease 6 hours to forage for anything they can find.  I do give them crushed oyster shells as well but funnily enough these 'rubber eggs' happened over the few days that I put oyster shells in with their pellets.

Perhaps that was it?  We haven't had one for the last two days so perhaps they are over it now?

These 6 girls are the most pampered chickies in our village I think!

I read through other posts on the subject on the forum and feel happier knowing that it happens to others as well from time to time....... but do we know why?   Strange isn't it?

[sandy]

We sometimes get one wobbly one, if you're not careful they break and mess up the nest!!!! Plenty of grit in my garden too so I just think it's one of those things!!