Something came out of your hen that looks like an egg water balloon? Worried she might be sick? If your pullets just started laying, an egg with no shell can sometimes happen. Here is what to do if your chicken laid an egg with no shell.
The First One I Found
I was locking the chickens up one evening at dusk when I spied a familiar shape in the dim back corner of a nest box. Someone had laid a very late evening egg. I reached in to grab it and jerked my hand away in shock. The egg was squishy and not at all the hard, chalky texture I was expecting. It was fragile and seemed likely to rupture so I scooped up a handful of the straw underneath it and removed it from the coop. Here are the pictures I took of that first weird egg just as the sun was going down.
What is Going On?
I rushed to the internet to find blogs like mine, describing this symptom. Was one of my chickens sick? Which one? The egg had no shell so there was no color to hint at who had laid this aberration. I was feeding my flock Scratch and Peck brand organic feed (affiliate link) and offering flaked oyster shell free choice in their coop since the first egg appeared. I knew my sweet hens were getting enough calcium through their diet and free ranging, despite more than one website insisting feeding practices were to blame. Finally, I found one fellow backyard owner who knew the true reason: Hens who have just begun laying are sometimes prone to laying shell-less eggs! And I had fourteen hens just coming into lay who could potentially experience this issue. If the hens had a good quality feed, access to oyster shell and clean water, the only “fix” was giving them time for their bodies to fall into a correct laying rhythm.
It Kept Happening
The next day there was a broken, semi-soft, only half shelled egg under the roost which seemed to have been laid in someone’s sleep. Later that day one hen laid a YOLK. No shell, no membrane. A straight liquid yolk! All of these had to be immediately cleaned up, lest my young flock learn raw egg yolks were an edible source of protein and begin eating their own eggs. The day after that a fourth hen laid another water balloon-like egg, a barred rock laid an over-calcified egg that had a milky white, chalky coating and then the flock went 24 hours with almost no eggs laid.
When Did It Stop?
Finally, five days after finding the first strange egg, things returned to normal. We got eight perfect eggs in one day without any problems and they continued to lay without further issues.
What Else Can Cause Shell-less eggs?
I also learned that if there is some type of upset in the flock, such as the stress of being attacked by a predator, chickens can experience a disrupted laying cycle, resulting in soft-shelled and other abnormal eggs. Again, time and good husbandry are the fastest fixes.
Beware: Eggs with No Shell Rot Quickly
I set aside the first water balloon egg so my son could see it when he returned from a backpacking trip. I assumed it was the only one we would ever see. Less than 48 hours later, it had a significant smell to it and I was glad I had kept it in the garage. Best not to keep these eggs for very long because they spoil quickly.
If your chicken laid an egg with no shell and she has just begun laying, has recently entered or come out of a molt or is older, relax! It happens! Given time and calcium in her diet, she will return to producing normal eggs soon.
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Thanks for all that info