Egg with no shell????

[Michelle2519]

One of our girls layed an egg with no shell today - just the membrane with intact yolk inside. Anyone else ever experience this?

 

[LRH97]

Sure have! On multiple occasions. You'll find that hens don't always lay the perfect super market-style eggs. Wavy shells, crazy calcium deposits, "fart eggs", HUGE double yolkers, or no shell at all. As long as it doesn't happen too often, it's really not much to worry about.

 

[Michelle2519]

Thanks! We've had our girls for about a year and a half now and just when we think we've got it all figured out, they throw something new at us! So I have to ask... what is a "fart egg"????

 

[LRH97]

Thanks! We've had our girls for about a year and a half now and just when we think we've got it all figured out, they throw something new at us! So I have to ask... what is a "fart egg"????

I still learn from my animals, and I've been around poultry and livestock since before I could speak. That's what makes them interesting! A "fart" egg, is in a nutshell, a crazy teeny tiny, little egg. It's really a type of misfire of the reproductive system of the hen. I've mostly experienced them with younger pullets, but they happen every so often with older girls too. They usually don't contain yolks and can range in size to a bantam-sized egg to even smaller. Actually the old wive's tale is that roosters lay them!

 

[chefskott]

We got one too the other day in the nesting box.. just once tho..there systems are getting going and supplimented some oystershells in case

 

[aart]

Thanks! We've had our girls for about a year and a half now and just when we think we've got it all figured out, they throw something new at us! So I have to ask... what is a "fart egg"????

At 18 months your birds may be getting ready to molt...as they slow down production to grow new feathers you can get some funky eggs.
Same goes when they start laying again after molt.
Feeding higher protein feed can help them get thru molt faster.