Laying an egg without a shell?

[chickengeorgeto]

So all dampness or water must hold and develop mold? Not if the water is already inoculated with beneficial yeasts that inhibit the growth of harmful molds...

No it is me who is sorry. I was unawares that the water company inoculated their H2O with beneficial yeasts to inhibit the growth of harmful molds. I would have assumed that the chlorine they also inoculate their water with created enough of a publicity headache for the water utility.

 

[Beekissed]

No it is me who is sorry. I was unawares that the water company inoculated their H2O with beneficial yeasts to inhibit the growth of harmful molds. I would have assumed that the chlorine they also inoculate their water with created enough of a publicity headache for the water utility.

Again...misdirection. Water can be inoculated with wild yeasts that are beneficial and can inhibit the overgrowth and establishment of harmful molds, which is the case with properly fermented foods/grains. Sourdough bread is just such an example and has been used since the beginning of time without feeding people molds. These beneficial yeasts are more quick to establish and have a stronger growth than the molds of which you speak.

Maybe you were just fermenting improperly and are now angry because others have been successful at it?

Not sure what your beef is with fermented grains but everything you are trying to assert doesn't have anything to do with properly fermented grains for animal feed.

 

[HenOfTheHouse]

Not many people seemed to say this but it can be a lack of calcium. My chickens played like this occasionally. I bought a small bag of calcium treatment. I gave them a little everyday and it stopped. You can also take the shell of an egg and put it in the oven for a minute take it out and grind it and give it to your birds. Be carefully because with some chickens this can encourage egg eating. Hoped it helped.
Hen Of The House,,,

 

[Tacampbell1973]

It's not unusual to get some very tiny first eggs from new layers. Most don't have yolks in them but some have tiny little yolks. I've seen some small as songbird eggs before. Crack it open and explore it...it's always interesting. I've never handled guinea eggs before, so not used to their color patterns but it's likely you've just got a starter egg. Some call them a fart egg, wind egg, etc.

OMG that's great... so i got a fart in the wind? perfect.. well after laughing my head off, i will crack it open in the am. I was going to set my two broodies on it, but part of me was afraid I would hatch out a lizard or snake or some such... will keep you posted. thanks agian.

 

[Fancychooklady]

OMG that's great... so i got a fart in the wind? perfect.. well after laughing my head off, i will crack it open in the am. I was going to set my two broodies on it, but part of me was afraid I would hatch out a lizard or snake or some such... will keep you posted. thanks agian.

This is my silkies fart in the wind egg.

 

[Tacampbell1973]

Here are mine...the largest is my Polish crested, the midsize is bantam cochin and the smallest are guinea. Why do i keep thinking of the song "dust in the wind". LOL

 

[JeanM]

Interesting. I have one hen of the three RI Reds I got as pullets last April, who every so often has laid a "rubber egg." Her shells tend to be lighter colored and thinner than her "sisters'" are. I have added calcium to their layer's feed, and for the most part it does seem to have helped.
However, a week or more ago, she stopped laying at all and even spent 24 hours looking pitiful and I even found her huddled under the nesting boxes one morning, instead of on a perch or eagerly greeting me wanting to be let out. That passed, but since then she has not laid any eggs. I have spotted a few extra feathers, but not a whole lot of them so I am not convinced she's molting already. The chooks aren't "under lights" to improve their laying during this cold, hard winter, but they do have a nightlight in their roosting room, if that makes a difference.

Perhaps she's just a loser in the genetics lottery? I have been thinking, if I were a "real" farmer this hen would have been chicken soup months ago. Not being a "real" farmer, that hen can hang out even if she doesn't get back into the egg-laying mode (although I sure would like her to!).

 

[Beekissed]

The "looking pitiful" part is the game changer~as it is for most production breeds that have burned out on laying. It seems like a nice and romantic notion to have a retirement home for chickens and that would work lovely if you could just remove their ovary at that point so they never ovulated...but your hen has a history of abnormal ovulation and shell gland function and this will not stop. At some point she may suffer from internal laying, egg peritonitis, egg bound, and even egg tumors because she is an aging layer and all these things come with a fair amount of suffering.

That's why "real" farmers cull their nonlaying older birds so they can die a quick death when they are healthy and feeling well, instead of waiting until they may or may not develop a painful or even just an uncomfortable situation that then forces you to kill her under stressful and tragic circumstances.

I put off culling just such an old layer last year and even this winter out of sentiment...I'd had her for 7 1/2 years and up until this past year she had been a stellar layer for her advancing age. But...laying season rolled around and I got a huge triple yolker from one of her breed and I just knew I had waited too late but I still let it slip my mind. The other day she started isolating herself and "looking pitiful" but was still eating, moving, etc. and looked good. But...she was just a bit...off. And I knew I had waited too long and should have stuck to my guns last year..when I killed her she had several egg tumors, some attached to her intestines and she had one stuck in her oviduct and it wasn't advancing. I should have spared her that discomfort but I had waited and it was my fault. My good ol' hen trusted me and I let her down. She's not the first old layer I've culled for nonlaying that had egg tumors inside that just hadn't started to affect them yet but it was only a matter of time until they did.

Don't wait too long for your girl....

 

[Tacampbell1973]

The "looking pitiful" part is the game changer~as it is for most production breeds that have burned out on laying. It seems like a nice and romantic notion to have a retirement home for chickens and that would work lovely if you could just remove their ovary at that point so they never ovulated...but your hen has a history of abnormal ovulation and shell gland function and this will not stop. At some point she may suffer from internal laying, egg peritonitis, egg bound, and even egg tumors because she is an aging layer and all these things come with a fair amount of suffering.

That's why "real" farmers cull their nonlaying older birds so they can die a quick death when they are healthy and feeling well, instead of waiting until they may or may not develop a painful or even just an uncomfortable situation that then forces you to kill her under stressful and tragic circumstances.

I put off culling just such an old layer last year and even this winter out of sentiment...I'd had her for 7 1/2 years and up until this past year she had been a stellar layer for her advancing age. But...laying season rolled around and I got a huge triple yolker from one of her breed and I just knew I had waited too late but I still let it slip my mind. The other day she started isolating herself and "looking pitiful" but was still eating, moving, etc. and looked good. But...she was just a bit...off. And I knew I had waited too long and should have stuck to my guns last year..when I killed her she had several egg tumors, some attached to her intestines and she had one stuck in her oviduct and it wasn't advancing. I should have spared her that discomfort but I had waited and it was my fault. My good ol' hen trusted me and I let her down. She's not the first old layer I've culled for nonlaying that had egg tumors inside that just hadn't started to affect them yet but it was only a matter of time until they did.

Don't wait too long for your girl....

hey wait though... beekissed i know what you mean, but it is also possible that it is what you said before, just a change in the season.. my faith did pass shellless eggs at molt but went on to mother 6 chicks this year. i dont beleiive in animal suffering. i am a vet tech by trade with a degree in veterinary assisting, and studying radiology, but sometimes it is just a temporary glitch in the works and i hate to see an innocent animal go to the block....Faith has not laid a weird egg in some time so things straightened out. she was young.... but too dont let an animal suffer.... not ok.... just use discretion and heart....


btw i had cervical tumors...glad no one hung me out to dry....

 

[Beekissed]

btw i had cervical tumors...glad no one hung me out to dry....

Yes...but you are a human, not an animal. So, comparing your cervical tumors with a chicken's cervical tumors is just silly....one is a human and one is a chicken. Everyone is free to spend thousands to remove tumors inside their chicken but it's not really practical in light of the life span and nature of the creature, but that still does not equal a human life. That's like comparing eating fertilized eggs with the abortion of human babies....no comparison at all.

Unless, of course, you equate your life to a chicken's life and as having no more worth than a chicken.....if that's the case, then I really can't please you on that one.