Egg quality diminishing -- runny yolks, bloody yolks, runny whites

[UpAwayAcres]

I have 5 hens that are 4.5 years old -- 2 buff orps, 2 speckled sussex, 1 rose-crested brown leghorn, and a rooster, mixed. Last Spring we let one of the broody hens set which resulted in 2 new hens and 1 new rooster. The father rooster to the 3 new chickens was killed by a fox so we now have 7 hens and 1 rooster. The young rooster "has his way," if you will, with all 7 hens, one of which would be his mother and 2 of which could possibly be siblings. This is a long, but relevant, intro to my question. Over the past few months about 50% of my eggs are bloody - not just a blood spot but bright red/pink, runny yolks with very runny whites. I'm not squeamish but these eggs really gross me out, and I couldn't possibly share them with friends and family as I have the past 4 years. Nothing has changed as far as their food or environment, and I'm not aware of them being startled or scared. My question is, could the reason for the drastic change in the quality of the eggs have anything to do with genetics -- the fact that my some of my chickens are related to my rooster? Or do I just have old hens whose best laying days are gone by? I know the first question sounds ridiculous but I had to ask because I'm certainly no expert. Thanks in advance for any answers or advice you might have.

 

[Stephine]

First off: As long as you don’t have any offspring yet, the egg issues are not the result of inbreeding. Just mating would not make a difference in the quality of the eggs - chickens would lay eggs without a rooster mating with them.
So this is an issue with the hen’s productive system being out of whack. How many eggs are you getting per day? Could it be possible it is just from one hen, laying regularly but bad eggs?
If I was to venture a wild guess, the culprit might be the leghorn, because they are better layers than the other two breeds - and haven’t been bred to keep going for years on end.
But that’s really just a wild guess.
If you can’t tell the eggs apart, maybe you can separate the hens for a little bit, to find the culprit. Start with two groups to narrow down then split up the group with the bloody egg, until you have found the responsible hen.
Good luck!

 

[lazy gardener]

It's either dietary or disease IMO. I'd start by giving them a good multi-vitamin in addition to their regular feed. See if you can find out if it's all the birds, or perhaps just 1 or some of them. At 4.5 years old, the older ones are well past their prime, and it might be time to replace them. You'd know for sure if it was the leghorn, b/c that's the only bird in that group that lays a white egg.

 

[pjstar]

Check for parasites....

 

[UpAwayAcres]

Thank you Stephine and lazy gardener for your replies. I'm getting about an egg a day or every other day from each hen. Production is good, it's the quality that's suffering. As lazy gardener observed, the leghorn is my only white-egg layer and some of her eggs have been bad as well as some (or all?) of my brown-egg layers. The offspring of the leghorn hen lays off-white eggs and one or two of hers have been bad. It's hard to tell with the brown eggs since 5 out of seven lay them. I will try separating the hens to see if I can determine if it's all or just a few. I will also start them on a multi-vitamin. Can you make a recommendation for a good one? If it's disease, any idea what it could be? Many thanks!

 

[sourland]

Age and stress can have an impact on meat spots or other egg formation issues. If the cockerel is overly aggressive or harassing, there is an outside chance that he is causing the problems. Have you considered separating him from the flock to see if the egg quality goes back to normal?

 

[UpAwayAcres]

That's an interesting point you bring up, sourland. Thank you. Our cockerel is harassing to the hens -- chasing them intently when they are free ranging. And when he catches them, which he normally does because he's younger, he's fairly aggressive. It hadn't occurred to me that he might be the problem. Our previous cockerel was far more docile. I will definitely consider separating him to see if that could be the problem. Again, thank you!

 

[Stephine]

I t

It's either dietary or disease IMO. I'd start by giving them a good multi-vitamin in addition to their regular feed. See if you can find out if it's all the birds, or perhaps just 1 or some of them. At 4.5 years old, the older ones are well past their prime, and it might be time to replace them. You'd know for sure if it was the leghorn, b/c that's the only bird in that group that lays a white egg.

I thought brown leghorns laid brown eggs...?

 

[UpAwayAcres]

Check for parasites....

I will definitely check for parasites. Thank you!

 

[pjstar]

Also, I know the amount of research that has gone into developing chick food that specifically meets chicks needs if you buy a reputable layer brand and let them forage. So, I don’t use multivitamins and save my money for something else.