Messy eggs

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lynallison

lynallison

Hatching
Jan 12, 2016
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New member today but have had chickens for a few years. Still have lots to learn. My mixed flock recently came thru their autumn molt and a few have been laying for 6 weeks or so. My concern is their eggs are incredibly poopy, and it doesn't seem to change. Last summer there wasn't nearly the issue as now. Should I be concerned?
 
Hi :welcome

Glad you could join the flock! They could be messing the eggs up when they go in and out of the nest box. Are things quite wet for you? How clean are your nest boxes? If they have dirty feet this could transfer to your eggs. Also if you have any that go in and play in the boxes with the eggs this can also cause poopy eggs. I had one of these last year that could not resist going in and messing about. Have you checked your hens vents? They may need a bit of a clean up if they are a bit poopy around the feathers.

Hope you enjoy BYC, I'm sure you will everyone here to help and very friendly :frow
 
welcome-byc.gif
glad you have joined us.

@Yorkshire coop has given you a summary of the most likely causes.

In my case it is usually walking thru poop, poop caught on feathers or a broody hanging out in the nests.

Hope you get this solved soon.
 
lynallison said:
New member today but have had chickens for a few years. Still have lots to learn. My mixed flock recently came thru their autumn molt and a few have been laying for 6 weeks or so. My concern is their eggs are incredibly poopy, and it doesn't seem to change. Last summer there wasn't nearly the issue as now. Should I be concerned?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the ideas. The volume I'm talking about is way more than dirty feet. We've had some wet days and some dry days and I've learned to expect some mildly soiled eggs after a rain. This is big clumps of poop stuck securely to the egg. My nest boxes are lined with pine shavings that I clean out the poop every morning, before most laying begins. And yes, I do have a couple hens with dirty behinds, but they're not the ones laying poopy eggs. I know this because the dirty behinds are on my RIRs and the poopy eggs are white from the leghorns.
 
Are some of your hens sleeping in the nest boxes? That is usually how eggs get all poopy and dirty. Or do you have open top nest boxes and maybe birds roosting over them. That would cause poop to drop onto your eggs.
 
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