Calcium Deposits on New Layers Eggs

[ChickieChickieMama]

My beautiful Babette has started laying eggs as pretty as she is - they are a dusty rose colour with millions of miniscule white Speckles covering them. She just started laying last week, and her first egg was a more typical brown for her breed (Golden Comet). She then took a few days off before producing an enormous speckled pink egg yesterday. Today she laid another (smaller) pink speckled egg.

I've read all sorts of conflicting things about how this is caused (and I know that the first while of egg laying can be weird until she gets the hang of things) but I'm just wondering if I should be doing something different in terms of her calcium supply.

Right now, I keep a steady supply of both egg shells and oyster shells separate from the flock feed (as she and her sister are the only two hens laying yet). I also give them all scraps from the garden, and they especially love the Kale which I know is a great source of calcium too.

Should I limit their access to any of this? I wanted to make sure they got enough calcium but now it seems like maybe they're getting too much (although her sister isn't having this problem at all; she lays perfect medium brown eggs with just a hint of darker brown speckle occasionally).

For scale: left is Lucille's perfect brown egg (and what Babette's first egg looked like), middle is a store bought xl egg and right is Babette's enormous pink speckled egg from yesterday.

 

[Flockandfowl46]

To me that doesn't really appear to be calcium deposits but just a lack of pigment which is not a major concern everything should be fine hun

 

[aart]

It's fine, some birds just lay those.
Looks like it could be lack of pigment...or a porous shell(speckles look like indentations not covered with pigment) but pics can be deceiving.

'Speckled' eggs can happen for several different reasons...very few, if any, of which are a 'problem'.
Can be caused by:
Excess or uneven pigment coating.
Excess or uneven cuticle(bloom).
Excess calcium deposits.
Porous eggs can appear speckled.
Some birds lay them consistently, some only once in awhile.
The pigment or bloom can change appearance when wet, then change back when dry again.

As long as bird is getting a good diet and is healthy in every other way, it is no cause for concern.

 

[ChickieChickieMama]

Okay great to know! Thanks for weighing in!!

We've gotten three of these pretty eggs now and though they're more normal sized, they are still covered in tiny Speckles. You're right - looking closely I don't think they're calcium after all...I think it's an uneven pigment. When I touch them the pale pink overlay of bloom disappears too and reveals the natural brown colour below. What confused me at first was that there are a couple of actual larger calcium deposits on the first one, but the rest of the texture is where the brown pigment is raised higher than the white below. This is all so fascinating to me!