Problem: Yolks Break Easily or are Broken Inside Egg

I just started getting some of my eggs with yolks that are thin and breaking. The hens are less than 2 years of age. The only change in their diet was that I switched from regular crumbles to organic pellets with no other changes. They have easy access to oyster shells and same amount of treats are given each day. I tempted to go to organic crumbles to see if I see a change.
 
Last edited:
I know this may be an old post but I feed mine plenty of scraps like watermelon which is thier favorite and cucumber and pumpkin. Along with herbs and other greens they get the necessary vitamins and minerals they need - that they don't get from free ranging or feed. Doing this I have not experienced a broken yolk unless I accidentally broke the shell way too hard lol.
 
I'm glad I stumbled upon this post. I was having the same problem and posted on FB. The people on there were insistent it's diet and started comparing chickens to humans. First off, all my chickens get the same feed, about 95% organic layer feed and 5% treats. The chicken with said issue is the queen and gets first access to everything. I have no clue how to fix the diet anymore than I have nor am I willing to feed every hen a different diet. Every egg of hers I have incubated died before day 10 (I imagine due to the yolk). I am at a loss, and really wish someone had an answer!
 
I did some more research after posting, it appears adding carotenoids into the chicken diet can strengthen the wall of the yolk. Foods like carrots, spinach, kale and meats like mealworms can help. It's worth a shot.
 
BUMPING ... I was hoping to find an answer to this as my pullets are all new layers (I have 24 FS pullets, 2 4yr old FS & 10 2-3yr old banty's) and I am having this issue with the yolk breaking once I crack the egg ... I crack into a bowl first and 9x out of 10 the yolk will break on its own & I have had a few eggs that just look nasty inside (like the yolk is also watery/loose inside) and I hard boiled some that seemed to only have the yolk inside and it didn't actually firm up like a normal hard boiled yolk.

Very frustrating and I do feed PURINA layer pellets with the oyster shell built into the pellet so the shells are strong and the yolks are a great color but just was really hoping to find a solution/reason for this. Everything says old layers or old eggs and I collect my eggs daily and use within 2-3 weeks so none of that fits. Oh' and my girls free range all day and I have had chickens for almost 10 years now and this is the first time I have had this issue. Thanks!
 
Hmmm... I thought I was not being careful when I cracked the shell open. I haven't had a yolk that came out broken, but a lot of the yolk sacks seem thin. I don't have enough eggs to sell, but I can imagine that this would be a complaint. And a problem with hatching too. :hmm
 
I'm not sure, but I did find this paper on the topic:

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/13/1/41.pdf

It's just one study, but what they found is interesting.
smile.png
helpful indeed, the smart author proved that the membrane that contains the yoke can be weaker or stronger depending exclusively on the hens individual dna and its diet, all birds that come from the same parents can show more of their moms genetic traits or its dad's genetic traits even if they all look the same so because every bird/hen is an individual and unique they may be more prone to broken yokes just because of their individuality and even a different diet might not help all that much. so if you desire eggs that all have great looking yokes and whites you need to begin with breeds of healthy chickens that are known to lay those types of desirable eggs, and even then the diet that they are fed will also be a factor of their egg quality, and even then some birds wont have the best parts/genes from both of her parents and might be sickly or lay weird eggs
 
We have had 5 hens all go broody at the same time. The weather is heating up as well. I have been busy so I didn't get to collect eggs from under the broodys for about 3 days. When we cracked some open to use them, we noticed the same thing, Yolks broken inside the shell, traces of blood and watery whites. I suspect the delay in collecting eggs from under the hens allowed the embryos to begin forming into chicks. So this is my theory on what is happening with these eggs.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom