Hello all,
I have 2 RIRs that I recently purchased (about 6 weeks ago). I was told they were around a year old. The kids love them.
Their egg laying was sketchy at first, i.e. about an egg every 2-3 days and the shells were very thin, so I added Oyster Shell to the diet and the shells seem to have gotten a bit stronger...not perfect, but OK.
Once they settled into their new environment, they started laying a respectable 6 per week (each)....but they started to eat the eggs....Argh! I made some adjustments to the nesting box and now, no more eating...
So, now that we can actually have some eggs for ourselves, I noticed that some of the eggs had red spots on the shell. They look like blood specks. Inside the eggs, I see small spots, the size of sand (or smaller) and they are red. These are mostly in the whites of the egg. Sometimes, there is a larger spot, and sometimes there are a bunch of the tiny specks. I am assuming that they are blood spots, but I thought blood spots were in the yolk.
Nevertheless, I figured out it is always coming from one of the hens. Coincidentally, the hen had an ankle band when I bought her...I am hoping that this is something other than a farmer selling a problem hen instead of culling her.
Any suggestions?
I have 2 RIRs that I recently purchased (about 6 weeks ago). I was told they were around a year old. The kids love them.
Their egg laying was sketchy at first, i.e. about an egg every 2-3 days and the shells were very thin, so I added Oyster Shell to the diet and the shells seem to have gotten a bit stronger...not perfect, but OK.
Once they settled into their new environment, they started laying a respectable 6 per week (each)....but they started to eat the eggs....Argh! I made some adjustments to the nesting box and now, no more eating...
So, now that we can actually have some eggs for ourselves, I noticed that some of the eggs had red spots on the shell. They look like blood specks. Inside the eggs, I see small spots, the size of sand (or smaller) and they are red. These are mostly in the whites of the egg. Sometimes, there is a larger spot, and sometimes there are a bunch of the tiny specks. I am assuming that they are blood spots, but I thought blood spots were in the yolk.
Nevertheless, I figured out it is always coming from one of the hens. Coincidentally, the hen had an ankle band when I bought her...I am hoping that this is something other than a farmer selling a problem hen instead of culling her.
Any suggestions?
