Odd coating on egg

[NevadaEmma]

I have found a couple of eggs recently with odd coatings on them, at least odd to me. There seems to be globs of a whitish sticky stuff on the eggs. I can pull some of it off. I do not see anything odd on the back side of the hens.

 

[azygous]

What is your location? Has it been very hot where you live? When it's hot, chickens drink a lot of water, and the result can be excessive urates. Just as poop sometimes leaks onto an egg as it's being laid, so can excess urates.

Of course this guess hinges on your location and weather.

 

[aart]

Have you tried washing is off?
Urates should dissolve under gentle wiping under warm water.

Could also be membrane from anti-peristalsis...when a shelled egg backs up in the tract and gets another covering of membrane.

 

[NevadaEmma]

We live in the high desert of Northern Nevada and it has not been hot for some months. I have not tried to wash the eggs off, but did pull some of the whitish material off.

I have not been able to determine which chicken is laying the egg. Recently my neighbors three hens (Freedom Rangers I believe) decided to join my little flock. Apparently they have not been feeding the chickens, just letting them free range (during the winter). They started out with quite a few chickens and several ducks. These three seem to be the only ones that survived.

So I do not really mind them being with the flock. The Salmon Faverolles are very accepting birds and these 3 have assimilated pretty well. They are still skittish around me and I have not seen them in the nest boxes. Perhaps these eggs (2 so far) are theirs. I have found both on the ground, not in the nest boxes. They sure were hungry when they first started coming over and were pretty scrawny. They are looking pretty good now!