Brown Chunks in my Egg??

[apryl29]

Our feed stores sell their free range eggs for $5-6/dozen....found one place selling for $7/dozen. I sell mine for $4/doz, $5/18. I use my big ones and little ones. Either we eat them or I cook them and feed to dogs and chickens. Everybody wants large eggs to cook with so thats all I sell.

Wow! Wish l could get those prices here, even the road side signs near me say $2/ dz, but I'm in Ohio and this area has a good supply of backyard farmers.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm glad to hear you say you keep the big eggs for yourself. My ladies recently started laying and we've gotten some huge eggs & I questioned what to do when I start selling them. Do you also the the super tiny ones? It seems unfair to sell something so small (i have a bantam).

I also keep the monster eggs for myself. They are more apt to have internal defects: meat or blood spots, poor albumen or shell quality. And I keep the small eggs for myself. though, I will also put a few small eggs in to balance out a carton that has a lot of large eggs. Had my first broken egg in a carton last week. The egg was so large that the carton wouldn't close, and I inadvertently stacked more cartons on top, so that egg broke!

Here, back yard eggs go for $3/dozen. Though some road side stands sell for $2.50. I make no apologies for selling my eggs for $3. They are worth every penny. They go for $4.50 - $5 or more at the stores that sell "so called" free range or organic eggs.

 

[AnnieSantiago]

Prices are cheap in Maine. Here in Portland, Oregon we can pay $6-8 for Organic eggs.

 

[apryl29]

So today I got 3 soft shell eggs. I'm assuming they are all from new layers. But when I tore them open this is what I got (pic below). I assume the clear yolk looking egg w the "stuff" in it is what has been referred to as 'meat' or oviduct tissue & is nothing to worry about.

 

[debid]

You have one shedding pretty heavily and multiple birds laying soft shells? I'm wondering if there might be an illness in the flock? Any signs of respritory illness?

 

[apryl29]

You have one shedding pretty heavily and multiple birds laying soft shells? I'm wondering if there might be an illness in the flock? Any signs of respritory illness?

All of my girls are new this year and were born between end of feb & end of March. I have at least 3 that are laying normal eggs (I got 3 real eggs yesterday and 1 soft shell).. I believe these 3 from today are 'new' layers b/c they were laid in their poo pile instead of in one of the usual spots. I have 12 girls and I've physically seen 3-4 of them lay an egg (or get up and leave an egg behind). I haven't noticed any problems breathing or otherwise, except yesterday one of my ladies was ejecting a clear fluid out of her vent, but later yesterday I was watching her and she was acting normal and no longer had the clear liquid coming out. I'm not 100% sure which one she is though b/c we have a pair that looks very similar and I can only tell them apart when they are together, but I watched both of them for a while and they were both doing fine. By shedding, are you talking about the clear yolk egg?

 

[debid]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but if that plate has the contents of three soft shelled eggs, you have one that layed tissue with albumen in a soft shell and two that layed yolks with little to no albumen in soft shells?

 

[apryl29]

Yes, that is correct. Sorry.. I'm new to this and not very good at explaining things.

 

[debid]

Yes, that is correct. Sorry.. I'm new to this and not very good at explaining things.

That seems like a lot of misfires. I hope it's youth, they are very young, or just that it's been so darned hot out. Is it at all possible that there is one pullet that laid all three but two weren't found until cleaning time?

 

[apryl29]

I checked the coop last night around 8 pm, and they were there this morning when I checked at 830am, so I'm hoping it was 3 different chickens that are all new to laying. I had someone who was hiding eggs in the corner behind the feed so I check all over now. I'd previously had 2 soft shells, one a few weeks ago, and one yesterday, but I have 3 girls who hit 19 weeks old yesterday, so I just dismissed it as them being new layers. I have given them oyster shells and have been crushing used eggs to feed them. I'll try tossing the oyster shells in w/ their feed to see if they might eat more of it. They seem to knock more of the shells and grit on the floor than ingest it.