An odd small egg after a series of normal eggs

[Legbrorn]

Hello everyone!

This morning, one of my hens laid this odd looking egg. She started laying roughly 2-3 weeks before and is laying an egg a day since then, each day a bigger one. Today she laid a tiny egg, with thin shell and odd shape with something as a circle on it. Is it something to worry about or it’s normal?

 

[Perris]

I think you'll find the answer to this and other egg quality problems here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[aart]

Could be a new layer glitch...or something more.
Only time will tell.
As long as she's eating/drinking/pooping/moving around OK,
I'd not worry.

 

[Legbrorn]

So she just laid second egg today which is almost shell-less and she is holding her body strange.

 

[Perris]

As she's a new layer I'd just try to not worry and hope / assume these are just glitches while her reproductive system and shell gland get started. Some hens have no issues, but some splutter and bang into action; looks like she's one of the latter . Usually these things settle down after a couple of weeks, though sometimes the problem(s) are congenital and will never get better.

 

[Legbrorn]

As she's a new layer I'd just try to not worry and hope / assume these are just glitches while her reproductive system and shell gland get started. Some hens have no issues, but some splutter and bang into action; looks like she's one of the latter . Usually these things settle down after a couple of weeks, though sometimes the problem(s) are congenital and will never get better.

Alright then I’ll try not to worry and monitor the situation. Thanks for the answer!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Have you opened that first egg yet? Is it a small yet normal egg with a miniature yolk and whites, yolk only, or whites only? That would be an interesting piece to the puzzle.

That mark on the side shows that she had two eggs in her shell gland at the same time. That is easy to explain. That's about the only clear thing about this. There are just too many "if's" of what might have happened.

Are you familiar with how an egg is made? She deposits a yolk into the internal egg-making factory. As it makes its way through her internal plumbing the whites are deposited around the yolk. When it gets to the shell gland the shell is added. Once it is ready it is laid. It's a little more complicated than that but that's the general idea.

If a piece of foreign matter enters the internal egg making machine instead of a yolk, egg white material can be deposited around it and a shell added. When you open it you might not even see the piece of foreign matter but it was enough to signal the hen's body to made an egg around it. Since it does not have a yolk itis usually not that big. like yours.

I don't know what would cause a hen to lay a miniature egg, complete with miniature yolk and minimum white. Maybe a glitch where an undeveloped yolk is accidentally released but that doesn't explain a miniature whites section?

If a hen releases two yolks at the same time you can get a double yolked egg. If she releases two yolks the same day but separated in time you can get two eggs in one day. Or maybe she releases one yolk and some foreign material creates another egg.

A hen usually makes a limited amount of shell material a day. A first egg will often have a reasonably thick shell but the second may be really thin or even shell-less. She may make a limited amount of egg whites. Often the first egg is the larger one but not in your case. She may make a limited amount of the brown pigment that goes over the eggshell so the second egg may be lighter in color.

In some ways your eggs seem backwards to some of this but my guess is that foreign material caused her to develop and ay that first egg and the regular yolk caused the development of the second egg. I could easily be wrong.

She is hunched up in that photo. She may be perfectly fine. I don't see prolapse and she's spitting the eggs out so probably not internally laying. I'd give her time and see what happens.

 

[Legbrorn]

Have you opened that first egg yet? Is it a small yet normal egg with a miniature yolk and whites, yolk only, or whites only? That would be an interesting piece to the puzzle.

That mark on the side shows that she had two eggs in her shell gland at the same time. That is easy to explain. That's about the only clear thing about this. There are just too many "if's" of what might have happened.

Are you familiar with how an egg is made? She deposits a yolk into the internal egg-making factory. As it makes its way through her internal plumbing the whites are deposited around the yolk. When it gets to the shell gland the shell is added. Once it is ready it is laid. It's a little more complicated than that but that's the general idea.

If a piece of foreign matter enters the internal egg making machine instead of a yolk, egg white material can be deposited around it and a shell added. When you open it you might not even see the piece of foreign matter but it was enough to signal the hen's body to made an egg around it. Since it does not have a yolk itis usually not that big. like yours.

I don't know what would cause a hen to lay a miniature egg, complete with miniature yolk and minimum white. Maybe a glitch where an undeveloped yolk is accidentally released but that doesn't explain a miniature whites section?

If a hen releases two yolks at the same time you can get a double yolked egg. If she releases two yolks the same day but separated in time you can get two eggs in one day. Or maybe she releases one yolk and some foreign material creates another egg.

A hen usually makes a limited amount of shell material a day. A first egg will often have a reasonably thick shell but the second may be really thin or even shell-less. She may make a limited amount of egg whites. Often the first egg is the larger one but not in your case. She may make a limited amount of the brown pigment that goes over the eggshell so the second egg may be lighter in color.

In some ways your eggs seem backwards to some of this but my guess is that foreign material caused her to develop and ay that first egg and the regular yolk caused the development of the second egg. I could easily be wrong.

She is hunched up in that photo. She may be perfectly fine. I don't see prolapse and she's spitting the eggs out so probably not internally laying. I'd give her time and see what happens.

That's a lot of useful information, thanks!
Unfortunately I didn't take photos of what was inside the eggs, but the small one was yolk only and the bigger one was like a normal egg, yolk and white.

What concerns me now is that she went to the nesting box yesterday and today as the first thing in the morning - as every morning, she is the first to go there and lay an egg. However, she spent quite a bit of time in there but didn't lay any egg. Not today and yesterday neither. Yesterday I figured that she probably needs time to start laying again. But, I don't want to miss any issues, If I can help her the sooner the better.

She's acting normal, eating, drinking, foraging with the girls, comes to me to get treats. But worries me, whether there is something going on with her, that I can help her with.