Wrinkly Eggs

[Tomomi M]

Lately, our hens started producing strange-looking eggs. They come with wrinkles and the shells are super hard. There is nothing wrong inside. I just wanted to see if we are doing something wrong to our hens or if they are sick.

We've been feeding egg lay pellets (crumbled), scratch, flock raiser, oyster shells, and lately to help molting, feather growing food. These wrinkled eggs shells are super hard, but sometimes, they lay eggs with very thin. Just wanted to know if this is a strange thing and if so, what can I do to help? Any advise would be helpful. Thank you.

 

[MamaDoodle]

How old are your hens and how long have they been laying?

Mine did this when they were new to it and still sorting out their proper egg laying.

 

[Tomomi M]

We got our hens on Labor Day last year (9/3/12) from a friend of mine. At that time, hens were already 2-3 years old, so they are 3-4 years old now. We live in Albuquerque, New Mexico inside of city environment but my friend raised them on east mountain area outside of the city limit, so they are strong with cold weather.

They were laying normal-looking eggs but in last few months, I started seeing eggs with hard but wrinkled shells. Sometimes normal shell with just a small portion is very thin. If this is not problematic, that would be fine. I just wanted to know if we are doing something wrong to our hens.

Egg colors also changed. They used to lay brown to light brown eggs, but lately, they are laying much lighter color eggs.

Our Barred Rock is just starting to molt, but 2 other write ones got through molting and they are now growing back feathers.

Besides regular chicken feed, we give them lettuce, carrots, celery, corns, warm oatmeal, and occasional leftover Japanese cooked short-grain rice (I am Japanese).

 

[MagsDeatrick]

Tomomi,
I have had similar problems over the past two days- my one Rhode Island Red has suddenly started laying pale, pale eggs....and my other laid a rubber egg today! I figure there is some stress since we have recently added to our flock, but from my reading (in Storey's guide to raising chickens) it seems that pale eggs could be from disease but also stress (upset causes the egg to pass too quickly through the shell/bloom gland) and aging. In my case I think the paleness is due to stress of a new hen. Since your girls are a little older, maybe this color change is part of their aging process?

 

[MagsDeatrick]

Lately, our hens started producing strange-looking eggs. They come with wrinkles and the shells are super hard. There is nothing wrong inside. I just wanted to see if we are doing something wrong to our hens or if they are sick. We've been feeding egg lay pellets (crumbled), scratch, flock raiser, oyster shells, and lately to help molting, feather growing food. These wrinkled eggs shells are super hard, but sometimes, they lay eggs with very thin. Just wanted to know if this is a strange thing and if so, what can I do to help? Any advise would be helpful. Thank you.

I forgot to add- from what I know about wrinkly eggs, it happens when two forming eggs pass near each other in the oviduct and bump each other and then crack a little, which is then mended before being laid. I think they are still okay, but I don't know what would suddenly cause a spate of wrinkly eggs to appear...good luck with your girls!

 

[Tomomi M]

Thank you very much for your input. I heard from my friend that wrinkly eggs may come from infectious bronchitis, so I checked on the web and saw egg pictures and they are wrinkled!! But, I've never heard them coughing or sneezing, so I am not sure. Antibiotic may help, so if this keeps up, I plan to take them to the vet. I don't know which one (or two) are producing wrinkled eggs, but I know at least it wasn't my barred rock because the wrinkled egg came out yesterday afternoon and my barred rock laid a normal egg right in front of my this morning.

If I find out anything, I will post it here. Thank you!

 

[sumi]

Wrinkled shells can be caused by IB, but it can also be the result of stress or defective shell glands. See here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems (Scroll down to #12 for wrinkled eggs)