Double Shelled eggs??

[aart]

Anyway, anyone have any thoughts on if it was probably a brown layer or more likely one of only 2 blue egg layers I have (due to the inner shell being clearly blue in color)?

Did you find it in the nest just like shown in pic?
Was the inside of the brown egg wet at all?
Inside of brown egg would have to be blue in order to be a true 'double shell'.

Oh, and..... Welcome to BYC! @jlwquilter

 

[jlwquilter]

Hi! Thanks for the welcome - I’m excited to be here and learn.

The egg was found in nesting box pretty much as shown in pic. There was more brown shell on it (which is shown next to the egg) but with a wide striped like sction of the blue shell clearly showing. So not entirely encased within the brown outer shell. Yes, it was wet between the brown and blue shells. The brown shell peeled/slid off on the rounded end and a middle strip came off when I handled the egg. I just checked the egg again.... the brown outer shell on the one end is now firmly attacked/stuck to the inner blue shell. Maybe because it had time to dry on?

I have not yet cracked the egg so don’t know if the blue is blue on the inside as well. Won’t crack it until tomorrow when I make our eggs for breakfast. I’ll post after that to update on the inner color of the blue shell.

 

[aart]

don’t know if the blue is blue on the inside as well.

It will be.
Peel the inner white membrane out of blue egg immediately after you break it open to see it clearly.
There are only white and blue shells....and brown coating.
Brown eggs are are white shells with brown coating.
Green eggs are blue shells with brown coating.
Blue eggs are blue shells with no coating.
There are variants of brown coating, from very light to very dark...
...some egg have tinted blooms over the coating.

I'd bet what you've got there is a brown egg that was broken in the nest (the contents eaten-was the nest bedding messy?) then the blue egg ended inside the empty brown shell.

 

[jlwquilter]

I never would have thought of a broken egg shell covering the outside of a good egg but I think you are exactly right. The nest was wet - I thought it was poop from the night before as 2 hens had slept in there (they are figuring out the roosting order to incorporate the new hens). But the wet could have been egg.

I’ll be making use of the egg today and will check the inside color for sure.

Thanks for all your insight!

 

[aart]

But the wet could have been egg.

Change the nest bedding out before it starts to stink!
(maybe you already did)

 

[jlwquilter]

I did that immediately. I’ve been collecting eggs several times a day - it’s only been since Thursday- to reduce chance of breakages. I did slack a bit - will do better today. Until I can convince them to use more nest boxes! Like that’s going to happen.

 

[aart]

Until I can convince them to use more nest boxes! Like that’s going to happen.

Have you added fake eggs to all nests?....that should help.

 

[jlwquilter]

No I haven’t. Didn’t think to do that. Duh. And now I recall that I had moved a couple of eggs out of the preferred nest into the empty nest next door because my hands became full and some hens did go lay in there. Just didn’t put it together. Thanks! I’ll go add some fake ones.

Does the color of plastic Easter eggs matter? Should I add weight inside?

I don’t want to get anymore off topic! Sorry!

 

[aart]

Does the color of plastic Easter eggs matter? Should I add weight inside?

No and Yes.
Golf balls work great as fake eggs if you can get some easily.

 

[T.J.]

I looked up this thread b/c this morning one of our ducks laid a double-shelled egg - the outer one was really huge - about 2x the size of the regular egg inside...I hope it doesn't happen again for the duck's sake!