Finch laid her first egg, seems soft? not in nest?

[Parsons]

My Parsons Finch laid her first egg yesterday evening. She laid it on the floor of the cage and not in the nest. This is a first-time thing for me. We've only had the pair for about 6 weeks.

They have a nest in their cage and I've always put timothy hay and sisal on the cage floor. They busy themselves putting it in (and back out!) of the nest.

Not knowing what to do last night (storms knocked out our internet!) I put some hay and sisal in the nest (since it was completely empty of nesting material) and then put the egg in. I turned out the lights and they went in the nest as usual for bedtime.

The egg seemed to have a soft shell. Is that normal immediately after being laid?? Or does it normally come out already hard?

Did I do the right thing? Is there something else I should do?

[wildbird]

A soft shelled egg is not normal. It can lead to egg binding. She needs to have calcium available. Be sure she has some finely crushed egg shell, oyster shell and cuttlebone availabe. Feed her some hard boiled egg shredded. This should not be left in more than two hours as it will spoil. You can get dried egg food at a pet store and that can stay in there, since it is dried. I would provide both.

[Parsons]

She already has a cuttlebone hanging, and oyster shell grit in separate bowl. Those she's had for awhile.

I've also offered them both hard boiled egg a few times now, but they ignored it. Crushed egg shell they also ignore.

I do have powdered calcium supplement to sprinkle on seed which is what I did after I saw that egg.

[wildbird]

I use Cal-D-Solve calcium/magnesium supplement made by Avitech. www.avitech.com. I have a female who sometimes lays eggs even though there is no male with her. During this time I give her one quarter teaspoon to 8 ounces of water as directed. It mixes well and she seems to accept it. It is supposed to help guard against soft shelled eggs and egg binding.

[Parsons]

Ahh, thanks. I found the link... the one you have is incorrect. It should be www.avitec.com (no "h" at end).

I'll be more consistent in adding the Avian calcium powder I have. Others seemed to suggest that as long as she had constant access to cuttlebone and oyster shell that she'd regulate her own calcium intake. That doesn't seem to be the case with her.

thank you

[Parsons]

Well, my finches just made a liar out of me.

I crushed some new egg shell and put some in their dish I use just for giving mealworms. (that dish is only in the cage when I offer the worms) They hopped right to it and starting helping themselves. Yay!

[wildbird]

That's great! I would only give the calcium in the water when she is laying eggs, if necessary. Calcium can be overdone and it is best if they eat the egg shells and cuttlebone as they need it.

[CathyCraftz]

A soft shelled egg is definitely not normal. It means that your hen is in need of more calcium.