Fresh exploding eggs??

[Londonchix]

Hi everyone, I recently added a rescue hen to my flock. I only have 1 rooster and 7 hens (including the rescue). In the last few weeks I noticed some eggs randomly breaking. These are fresh eggs, collected daily. No noticeable cracks, looks perfectly healthy.
Today, I gathered the eggs, popped them in a carton my husband walked by and watched it explode! The eggs smell normal.
In many years of chicken keeping I've never seen this.
Is this some sign of disease? Appears to be affecting the whole flock.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

What are your temperatures? I can't think of a single disease that would cause a gaseous build up in the egg that would cause it to explode. Even thin shelled eggs don't explode. They just crack and disintegrate.

My only, only thought is that your temps are high outside, and somehow bringing them inside is changing the egg temperature enough to cause a reaction in thin shelled eggs.

How hot of water are you using to wash them, if you are washing them.

My guess is a temperature discrepancy rather than disease.

LofMc

 

[Londonchix]

Lately it's been about 69/70, so very pleasant temps. Last few weeks it's been about 75-80 which is warm for this time of year in London. But not ridiculously hot.

This is a pic of the exploded one, the top popped right off! After I took this picture, about 20 minutes later, the green egg did the same thing. I hadn't touched the eggs at all.

I'm so confused

At first I thought maybe there is a tricky rat who is sneaking past us to snatch them and breaking them in the process. But when my husband actually watched it explode, that confirmed something weird is happening.

The birds seem happy enough though.

 

[Londonchix]

Oh, forgot to say that I don't wash the eggs.

 

[Tonyroo]

Bacteria is the only microbe that creates gas. So I'm think the area she is laying has an unusual amount of air born bacteria and it's settling on the nest. If her bloom on the shell doesn't dry out quickly the bacteria can penetrate the shell and start feeding on content. When there feeding they expel gas and in a closed structure it create pressure for the shell to break. Seen it with some of my hatching eggs.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes. Agree bacteria produces gas. But the eggs don't smell. I discounted bacterial build up as it always comes with the bad sulfur smell. OP stated no smell.

Weird. I've gathered eggs and broody hatched eggs and never had one explode except an obviously bad smelling one.

Just my experience.

LofMc

 

[SourRoses]

It could still be bacteria even without smell, because odors are specific to certain strains, but so are (microbial) incubation times. Since this is happening so soon after lay, it could be a strain with a different or minimal odor.

I noticed in that picture that the yolk is broken. It makes me wonder if the explosion started there?
Bacteria from outside the shell have to first cross the albumen (white), which is thick especially for the purpose of stalling bacteria in their path to the yolk. I saw that in a documentary about eggs. There's no way it could make the journey so fast.
That leads me to believe that the yolks are being infected during their development in the hen. Which means she is probably suffering her own infection.

Unless someone comes along with a better theory as to why the yolks are exploding, I would treat this as an infection in your hen, because there's a time factor for treating her successfully. An unnecessary treatment won't hurt her much (gut microbes, mostly). But a lot of people have lost hens to reproductive infections and they often don't show symptoms until it's well advanced. I would treat her with a full course of antibiotics asap, if it were me.

 

[Londonchix]

That a very helpful explanation! I think the rescue is the culprit because she was a commercial hen. I did isolate her with her sister (who died within a week) before joining the flock. This one seemed healthy enough but she wasn't laying at the time. She recently just started laying and this is when the exploding eggs started happening.
I do highly suspect the other hens eggs are doing the same. I guess as a precaution I should treat the whole flock?