Bloody egg

[Abigail1210]

hi im super new to raising chickens and this is my first post here. I have five hens and one bantam roo. He is much smaller than all the hens so I don’t really think fertilization is possible. My hens are a year old and started laying last summer. I gave some eggs to a family member and they sent me a picture of a bloody egg. I have never seen anything like this and it is more than a small blood spot. I’m really worried about the hen that laid it.

I attached a picture (please ignore the words on it lol my brother sent it to me on Snapchat)

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Fertilization IS possible. But there won't be any development unless the egg was stored above 90 degrees for several days.

Blood spots and/or meat spot as they are known (depending on location) can commonly be seen, even in unfertilized eggs and are not *usually* cause for concern, though unsightly...
https://www.incredibleegg.org/eggcyclopedia/b/blood-spots/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

Even though most anomalies list disease as one possible cause, please don't jump to that conclusion. Use your best reasonable deduction skills to determine YOUR cause.

Even though my aim is to lessen your concern... it always good to pay attention and be aware of ANYTHING that makes you think something might not be right. Things tend to come on quite fast in poultry and as prey animals they will hide it just as long as they possibly can in order to avoid becoming lunch, loosing their place in the pecking order, or even being booted from or cannibalized by their own flock.

I can't tell from the pic if it was an actual developing embryo. It's larger than any meat spot I have personally seen thus far. Raising chickens is a constant learning journey... and you have just found one of the BEST resources for support here!

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC @Abigail1210 .
Probably just a large meat spot...unless you don't gather eggs daily and you have a broody hen....can't see it clearly enough to tell.

This stuff is usually a one off anomaly...but it'll have you breaking eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe for quite some time.

I tell my customers if they find something really odd to put the whole egg, shell and all, into a container in the fridge so I can examine it and ID the bird who laid it.

 

[Abigail1210]

Thank you both so much for your replies! I do know which hen laid this egg so I will make sure to keep an extra close eye on her. I was so concerned when I saw this picture but I know I am making up worst case scenarios in my head lol. Is it really possible for the eggs to be fertilized? There is a huge size difference between the roo and the hens...

 

[aart]

Is it really possible for the eggs to be fertilized? There is a huge size difference between the roo and the hens...

Hard to say...start checking yolks when breaking eggs for eating.