Dirty Eggs

[MKetter]

Whenever I collect the white eggs, they are always “dirty.” Any idea why? The brown eggs aren’t. The poo stains the shells. I won’t give these eggs away. These are the ones I will keep for myself.

 

[Debbie292d]

The brown is hiding a small amount of it, but still that is odd. Do they lay in separate nests, meaning maybe the ones that lay white eggs poop in their nests and the ones laying brown eggs don't?

We have silkies that prefer to sleep in their nest boxes or on top of them, rather than on any perches we've tried, so we opted to put horse bedding pellets in the nests and then add a handful of straw on top. That causes them to scratch around in there trying to make the straw into a nest, which they can't, as there's not enough. The pellets absorb the poop, so we get cleaner eggs since we switched to this method.

It's also easy to "clean" by stirring the pellets with a stick about once a week.

 

[Callender Girl]

I have the staining issue with eggs from my runner ducks, all but one of whom lays white. I haven't yet found a way to make the stained eggs clean enough to sell, but they're good enough for me to eat.

I've been using horse pellets in the runs and like the idea of using them in nest boxes with some straw -- for my chickens.

Unfortunately, my ducks prefer to lay eggs anywhere and everywhere else. Walking across my yard is like a daily Easter Egg hunt.

 

[MKetter]

The brown is hiding a small amount of it, but still that is odd. Do they lay in separate nests, meaning maybe the ones that lay white eggs poop in their nests and the ones laying brown eggs don't?

We have silkies that prefer to sleep in their nest boxes or on top of them, rather than on any perches we've tried, so we opted to put horse bedding pellets in the nests and then add a handful of straw on top. That causes them to scratch around in there trying to make the straw into a nest, which they can't, as there's not enough. The pellets absorb the poop, so we get cleaner eggs since we switched to this method.

It's also easy to "clean" by stirring the pellets with a stick about once a week.

There’s only one nest, and it’s not available for sleeping at night. On occasion one of them will lay in the run. I’m assuming that’s when the nest is occupied by another chicken.

 

[BDutch]

Maybe your white chickens have poopy buts?

I have a chicken who often pooped a tiny bit when she laid an egg. She did this when she was younger and quite a nervous chicken. It passed. Now her eggs are perfect.

Maybe it helps to check her but and clean it. If that is not the problem, it might be a good idea to give your chickens more space or add a second nestbox.

 

[Altairsky]

I had a chicken with poopy butt who laid poopy eggs. I cleaned her butt, trimmed some feathers, and this fixed the problem.
Muddy feet can also make the eggs filthy.