blue-grey colored matter in egg one day, soft shelled egg the next

[chickmamato7]

My Easter egger laid her first few eggs this week after an extended laying break due to respiratory illness... today I cracked one open to find weird grey/blue matter inside. My first reaction was to toss it in the garbage, so that is where the picture was taken, but you can still see the bluish-grey slime on the bacon wrapper beside the egg. What is this (just egg color somehow got on the inside)? This morning I also found a soft shelled, broken blue egg under the roost. She is my only blue layer, so it was hers. Gave her a calcium tab & her behavior seems fine. Does the colored stuff indicate internal infection & what antibiotic to use if yes?

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Hmm, that is an intriguing theory about infiltration of shell coloring. Was the shell thin or damaged? (assuming no bc you are obviously planning bacon and this egg for breakfast but had to ask) I will be watching for opinions.

 

[FunClucks]

???? No idea myself, but totally curious if this has been seen before.

 

[Kiki]

Some respiratory diseases cause egg laying issues.
Did you have testing done to know what disease you were dealing with?
I wouldn't worry too much about it if she just started laying again.
Make sure you're feeding a balanced diet of layer type feed and should straighten itself out unless it is related to the respiratory disease.

 

[chickmamato7]

No visible damage & normal shell hardness. My daughter is totally grossed out on fresh eggs now & wants to go back to store bought!

 

[chickmamato7]

Some respiratory diseases cause egg laying issues.
Did you have testing done to know what disease you were dealing with?
I wouldn't worry too much about it if she just started laying again.
Make sure you're feeding a balanced diet of layer type feed and should straighten itself out unless it is related to the respiratory disease.

Some of my birds tested positive for IB and MS. Not sure if she was one with MS because they were tested in groups and swabs were tested together by condition of bird: healthy, sneezing/coughing, sickest w/ complicating factors). I'm planning to see how the winter goes and then re-test the entire flock in spring. I eventually reintegrated the ones who recovered quickly and were laying normally, and am making painful decisions on the others.

It's been a rough few months... The sickest hen ended up with severe wry neck and still isn't 100% recovered after 2 months of treatment. She also still has swollen eyes. I know need to put her down, but don't have the heart to do it-- she has a habit of looking directly into my eyes just as I contemplating how to best end her life. The 2nd sickest (my favorite of all) developed leg paralysis and toe curling, which I am currently treating with vitamins. She is showing gradual improvement, but probably also needs to be put down

Then one of my healthiest birds (never showed any signs of illness through any of this and continued to lay when everyone else stopped) suddenly dropped dead with no warning signs or explanation.

 

[FunClucks]

Some of my birds tested positive for IB and MS. Not sure if she was one with MS because they were tested in groups and swabs were tested together by condition of bird: healthy, sneezing/coughing, sickest w/ complicating factors). I'm planning to see how the winter goes and then re-test the entire flock in spring. I eventually reintegrated the ones who recovered quickly and were laying normally, and am making painful decisions on the others.

It's been a rough few months... The sickest hen ended up with severe wry neck and still isn't 100% recovered after 2 months of treatment. She also still has swollen eyes. I know need to put her down, but don't have the heart to do it-- she has a habit of looking directly into my eyes just as I contemplating how to best end her life. The 2nd sickest (my favorite of all) developed leg paralysis and toe curling, which I am currently treating with vitamins. She is showing gradual improvement, but probably also needs to be put down

Then one of my healthiest birds (never showed any signs of illness through any of this and continued to lay when everyone else stopped) suddenly dropped dead with no warning signs or explanation.

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I'm sorry you lost your healthiest chicken and are looking at culling several others. That's so hard! What a miserable few months! I hope things will improve for you very soon.

Just remember, you did your absolute best to give these chickens the best life they could have. If anyone bears responsibility for this mess, it's the breeder, for knowingly selling you (probably) affected chickens. I too would have assumed that a NPIP certified breeder was totally disease-free. And now that you know, you'll make different choices going forward, which is all anyone can do really.

Sending you supportive thoughts.

 

[azygous]

I believe that you are right in suspecting this blue substance is somehow connected to your hen's shell coloring mechanism.

Blue egg layers have a gene for the egg "dye" oocyanin which gets its blue color from the biliverdin in her bile. Some of this may have infiltrated the albumin prematurely and left a trail of oocyanin. I might not have eaten the egg, either, although its probably harmless.

Read this. https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2018/02/what-makes-blue-eggs-blue.html

 

[chickmamato7]

I believe that you are right in suspecting this blue substance is somehow connected to your hen's shell coloring mechanism.

Blue egg layers have a gene for the egg "dye" oocyanin which gets its blue color from the biliverdin in her bile. Some of this may have infiltrated the albumin prematurely and left a trail of oocyanin. I might not have eaten the egg, either, although its probably harmless.

Read this. https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2018/02/what-makes-blue-eggs-blue.html

Thank you for explaining. It's all so fascinating, the complex process that goes into how an egg is made. It's even more amazing that most of the time they come out right! I have a new appreciation for all those perfect eggs we so carelessly crack without a thought!

 

[azygous]

I've pondered the seeming extravagance of hens bodies coloring their eggs. Is it evolution selecting for survival of the species or is it nature simply being frivolous and playful? I vote for the latter because there are too often no cogent explanations for what nature decides to do.