I didn't see a post further down about a soft egg.

We have 17 hens, so it's hard to know what egg, came from which hen, but have had one or two of these this fall too.  I'll go read the other post to see how it's answered.

Judy, you've got a 'soft' egg there. It can happen for several reasons, but heat can be one of the causes as well as a sudden stress factor - like getting scared by a loud noise, predator, etc. If it is the only one egg, it's just a fluke and don't worry about it. I've had a couple over the years from my hens. You can try offering calcium in the form of oyster shell to your hens, but the issue will most likely resolve itself. However, if you continue to get soft eggs, you might want to call a vet who treats birds.

Thanks Amy!

That's one ugly looking egg, Judy. 

I've had one or two of those as well, and I just chock it up to nature choosing to go haywire in that paricular moment. 

As Amy indicated, if it keeps happening, I would start adding calcium in the way of oyster shell if you don't already do that.

We've never taken a chicken to the vet -- but that's certainly an option. 

I have a feeling most vets don't even have a lot of hands on experience with poultry anyway (I certainly don't remember my uncle, a vet, ever mentioning any), but it is certainly possible you might find one who has. I have never used one either and I should mention that your local chicken farmers would probably know more than the vet!

We have occasionally had those too. Usually from new hens or hens starting up again in the spring. It seems to take a few weeks of irregular laying and odd eggs before they get up and running smoothly.

We used to have a lot of laying hens for about 10 years and seeing this kind of shell-less egg was fairly normal.  Not super common but nothing to get alarmed over. The chicken that laid this kind of egg would do it once and likely never again. Hubby wonders if their feed perhaps does not have enough oyster shell in it.  Chickens need oyster shell or gravel or something in their feed to help their gizzards grind down their feed or else they will starve to death, even though they're eating.

The first year we had meat birds, they did wonderfully, eating the gravel on the ground.  The next year, we put 50 birds in the same spot and 46 died.  We knew nothing about raising birds and had to learn the hard way that they had eaten all the gravel the year before and we didn't have anything similar in the feed the second year.  We didn't even know that they needed such a thing.  The only thing I knew about chicken gizzards was that my mom ate them and they looked gross!

Having said all that, that still might not be the problem.  Just wanted to pass the info. on.  The feedmill salesman might know more than a vet. but of course, he might also want to sell you his product!  These eggs meant happy times for our dogs and cats!