Chickens are living creatures with relatively complex reproductive systems, not Egg Pez Dispensers. From time to time we’re going to get an egg that totally perplexes us. 99% of the time it’s just a glitch.
Most of us grew up on store bought eggs. We open the carton and there they are - all a uniform size, shell texture, color, neatly nestled in their individual compartments. But with our backyard flocks we’re bound to see all sorts of oddities. We‘ll get torpedo eggs, wrinkled eggs, round eggs, irregularly colored eggs, bumpy eggs, soft-shelled or even shell-less eggs, giant eggs, fairy eggs, a complete egg within an egg - you name it, eventually we’ll see it!
Our tendency is to panic, imagine the worst, and start throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them. That can actually make matters worse. Abrupt changes in environment and even diet can turn a glitch from one hen into a real issue for the entire flock.
The first thing everyone says is “needs more calcium”. Well, you can put a bushel basket of oyster shells out there but are you gonna stand out there from dawn to dusk and monitor the actual intake? They don’t eat much of it, so it isn’t like you can see the level in the container going down quickly. And they always say, “enough calcium”. I wish they’d define what’s “enough”…..different individual birds have different needs. How can you possibly know if the hen that laid the rubber or odd egg obediently complies with your plan to increase her calcium - IF you can even positively identify which hen laid it? Some never even need extra calcium, so they just don’t bother to eat what you put out. And some take it in, but can’t utilize it, in much the same way as my hubby eats a balanced diet but can’t process the B-12 from either the foods he eats or from B-12 capsules.
People also tell stories about how they got a rubber egg, fed more calcium (like they’d know for absolute sure if the chickens - or chicken in question - actually ate more of it), and PRESTO….the next day they got a normal egg. Well, yeah….since it’s just a glitch they’d have gotten a normal egg anyway, even if they hadn’t filled the oyster shell container! Calcium is cumulative - it takes time after production begins for them to deplete their stores of calcium, and it also takes time for the reserve to build back up. So dumping egg shells and oyster shell in there on Tuesday isn’t going to replenish their supply and correct it by Wednesday. Layer food already contains calcium. If I fed layer, which I never do, I wouldn’t even bother with oyster shell.
This is all slightly oversimplified because it fits most cases. If a chicken keeper is getting less than good quality eggs from the entire flock, there’s a darned good chance it’s environmental or a nutrition issue. In that case, investigation and some changes need to be made. If the same poor quality is coming repeatedly from just one hen, then there could be an underlying issue in her entire reproductive system. The problem may even be genetic….chickens bred specifically for high production seem to be more prone. While some might find it cruel, when consistently laying rubber eggs was the issue with Beatrice, one of my Red Sex Links, we just dispatched her. In her case, getting a “normal” egg was unusual. Most of her eggs were rubber or shell-less eggs. Upon opening her up, we found her entire tract full of hard, dark red tumors. It happens. We could have kept her and let her continue to die a slow death, or do just what we had to do and moved on. Occasionally it’s a viral or bacterial infection. But those scenarios are the exceptions - as I said, 99% of the time it’s a glitch, best monitored with no sudden changes needed.
Big production houses get these oddities too. But the difference is they don’t tuck them into neat little cartons and ship them off to stores. They are rejected, and often go to plants where they make and package convenience foods containing eggs. For years my mom worked in a hatchery/production house as a candler. Back then candling was done with a strong light bulb! At the end of the employees’ shifts, they brought the flats of “rejects” to the inspector to verify as unsuitable for sale, and they were then permitted to bring the oddities home to their families. We ate a lot of oddball eggs in our house! And because the equipment back then wasn’t very sophisticated, Ma often cracked an egg into a separate bowl and what came out wasn’t at all appetizing! To this day, I always crack each egg - even store bought eggs - for a meal or recipe separately before using it.
What we need to remember is that we aren’t always going to get cartons of perfectly uniform eggs every day. They aren’t Egg Pez Dispensers! So what do you think when you get an oddity in your egg basket?
Most of us grew up on store bought eggs. We open the carton and there they are - all a uniform size, shell texture, color, neatly nestled in their individual compartments. But with our backyard flocks we’re bound to see all sorts of oddities. We‘ll get torpedo eggs, wrinkled eggs, round eggs, irregularly colored eggs, bumpy eggs, soft-shelled or even shell-less eggs, giant eggs, fairy eggs, a complete egg within an egg - you name it, eventually we’ll see it!
Our tendency is to panic, imagine the worst, and start throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them. That can actually make matters worse. Abrupt changes in environment and even diet can turn a glitch from one hen into a real issue for the entire flock.
The first thing everyone says is “needs more calcium”. Well, you can put a bushel basket of oyster shells out there but are you gonna stand out there from dawn to dusk and monitor the actual intake? They don’t eat much of it, so it isn’t like you can see the level in the container going down quickly. And they always say, “enough calcium”. I wish they’d define what’s “enough”…..different individual birds have different needs. How can you possibly know if the hen that laid the rubber or odd egg obediently complies with your plan to increase her calcium - IF you can even positively identify which hen laid it? Some never even need extra calcium, so they just don’t bother to eat what you put out. And some take it in, but can’t utilize it, in much the same way as my hubby eats a balanced diet but can’t process the B-12 from either the foods he eats or from B-12 capsules.
People also tell stories about how they got a rubber egg, fed more calcium (like they’d know for absolute sure if the chickens - or chicken in question - actually ate more of it), and PRESTO….the next day they got a normal egg. Well, yeah….since it’s just a glitch they’d have gotten a normal egg anyway, even if they hadn’t filled the oyster shell container! Calcium is cumulative - it takes time after production begins for them to deplete their stores of calcium, and it also takes time for the reserve to build back up. So dumping egg shells and oyster shell in there on Tuesday isn’t going to replenish their supply and correct it by Wednesday. Layer food already contains calcium. If I fed layer, which I never do, I wouldn’t even bother with oyster shell.
This is all slightly oversimplified because it fits most cases. If a chicken keeper is getting less than good quality eggs from the entire flock, there’s a darned good chance it’s environmental or a nutrition issue. In that case, investigation and some changes need to be made. If the same poor quality is coming repeatedly from just one hen, then there could be an underlying issue in her entire reproductive system. The problem may even be genetic….chickens bred specifically for high production seem to be more prone. While some might find it cruel, when consistently laying rubber eggs was the issue with Beatrice, one of my Red Sex Links, we just dispatched her. In her case, getting a “normal” egg was unusual. Most of her eggs were rubber or shell-less eggs. Upon opening her up, we found her entire tract full of hard, dark red tumors. It happens. We could have kept her and let her continue to die a slow death, or do just what we had to do and moved on. Occasionally it’s a viral or bacterial infection. But those scenarios are the exceptions - as I said, 99% of the time it’s a glitch, best monitored with no sudden changes needed.
Big production houses get these oddities too. But the difference is they don’t tuck them into neat little cartons and ship them off to stores. They are rejected, and often go to plants where they make and package convenience foods containing eggs. For years my mom worked in a hatchery/production house as a candler. Back then candling was done with a strong light bulb! At the end of the employees’ shifts, they brought the flats of “rejects” to the inspector to verify as unsuitable for sale, and they were then permitted to bring the oddities home to their families. We ate a lot of oddball eggs in our house! And because the equipment back then wasn’t very sophisticated, Ma often cracked an egg into a separate bowl and what came out wasn’t at all appetizing! To this day, I always crack each egg - even store bought eggs - for a meal or recipe separately before using it.
What we need to remember is that we aren’t always going to get cartons of perfectly uniform eggs every day. They aren’t Egg Pez Dispensers! So what do you think when you get an oddity in your egg basket?
I know where that torpedo egg came from and usually which hen lays it.
