Egg with white coating

[dellamarie]

Hi all,

One of my chucks is laying eggs with a white coating on them. yesterday's egg had a but on it, today's much more. Does anyone knote what's causing it and if it's a worry? Today's egg pictured below

 

[GC-Raptor]

My first Flock consisted of 5 Golden Comets and one of them laid eggs like that.

she was the second to lay and laid like that for awhile.
Shown here with the first to lay 6 eggs. Hers are on the bottom row in this pic.

By the seventh week all 5 pullets eggs look the same.

The spots slowly diminished.
She adjusted her egg laying machinery so to speak.

So I would say no worries. GC

 

[dellamarie]

Thank you for that. This chuck had been laying since April and it's only in the last 2 days it's been like this, well I'm assuming it's the same bird laid them both.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Both of these links show shell defects. To me that looks like it could be calcium deposits but I'm not sure. How powdery is it and how hard to wipe off? With it being white on top of brown it looks like it could have happened after the egg was laid, not before.

For a brown egg laying hen, about the last thing that happens before the egg is laid is that the brown coloring is laid on top of the egg, This takes abut a half hour, then the egg is laid. For that to be calcium deposits the egg would have to be held in the shell gland for a while after that brown was laid on. That's possible, it happens, especially if the hen is disturbed while laying. But it just doesn't feel right.

The very last thing a hen puts on the egg as it comes out is a layer of what we call bloom. It goes on as a liquid and quickly dries. That layer helps keep bacteria out of the porous egg. But bloom is either clear or it can be slightly pink or purplish. It's not white. That's not bloom. I don't know if you can tell if it is on top of the bloom or under it. To me it looks like it is over the bloom so it happened after the egg was laid.

Chicken urine is not liquid like mammals. Instead it is white crystals. If you see white in chicken poop, that white is their urine. Chicken poop and eggs come out of the same vent, but the plumbing inside is set up to keep them separate. When the egg is laid a bit of that plumbing extends out of their vent to keep them separated. That's why chickens stand up to lay, to keep that bit of plumbing out of the nesting materials. I'm not a veterinarian or an expert in any sense but my guess is that somehow a bit of urine is coming out when she lays the egg. I don't know why that would have just started or how long it might last. I don't know that it is a health problem. I'd just rinse the egg off before I cracked it and use it.

I could be totally wrong about this, it might be something else. My general approach to things like this is that if it is a rare occurrence it's just an oops and we are all entitled to an occasional oops. If it becomes a regular happening then something is going on. In this case I'd make sure I did not hatch her eggs if this is consistent, even if some are OK. But as long as she is acting healthy and laying otherwise good eggs I would not worry.

Egg Quality Handbook

https://thepoultrysite.com/publications/egg-quality-handbook

Sumi – Egg Quality

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[GC-Raptor]

Sorry to hear that it just started.
Here's some info on possible causes.

GC

 

[dellamarie]

Both of these links show shell defects. To me that looks like it could be calcium deposits but I'm not sure. How powdery is it and how hard to wipe off? With it being white on top of brown it looks like it could have happened after the egg was laid, not before.

For a brown egg laying hen, about the last thing that happens before the egg is laid is that the brown coloring is laid on top of the egg, This takes abut a half hour, then the egg is laid. For that to be calcium deposits the egg would have to be held in the shell gland for a while after that brown was laid on. That's possible, it happens, especially if the hen is disturbed while laying. But it just doesn't feel right.

The very last thing a hen puts on the egg as it comes out is a layer of what we call bloom. It goes on as a liquid and quickly dries. That layer helps keep bacteria out of the porous egg. But bloom is either clear or it can be slightly pink or purplish. It's not white. That's not bloom. I don't know if you can tell if it is on top of the bloom or under it. To me it looks like it is over the bloom so it happened after the egg was laid.

Chicken urine is not liquid like mammals. Instead it is white crystals. If you see white in chicken poop, that white is their urine. Chicken poop and eggs come out of the same vent, but the plumbing inside is set up to keep them separate. When the egg is laid a bit of that plumbing extends out of their vent to keep them separated. That's why chickens stand up to lay, to keep that bit of plumbing out of the nesting materials. I'm not a veterinarian or an expert in any sense but my guess is that somehow a bit of urine is coming out when she lays the egg. I don't know why that would have just started or how long it might last. I don't know that it is a health problem. I'd just rinse the egg off before I cracked it and use it.

I could be totally wrong about this, it might be something else. My general approach to things like this is that if it is a rare occurrence it's just an oops and we are all entitled to an occasional oops. If it becomes a regular happening then something is going on. In this case I'd make sure I did not hatch her eggs if this is consistent, even if some are OK. But as long as she is acting healthy and laying otherwise good eggs I would not worry.

Egg Quality Handbook

https://thepoultrysite.com/publications/egg-quality-handbook

Sumi – Egg Quality

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

Thanks for that. The white is hard and seems to to be over the egg shell itself as opposed to being part of the shell. Whether ir not its under the bloom I don't know. Today's egg is looking much better..

 

[dellamarie]

Sorry to hear that it just started.
Here's some info on possible causes.View attachment 2367714
GC

Thanks Raptor, they are free ranging birds and I feed them an organic layers pellets as well as organic oats for treats. I would have thought their diet was good, could I be missing something?

 

[GC-Raptor]

Thanks Raptor, they are free ranging birds and I feed them an organic layers pellets as well as organic oats for treats. I would have thought their diet was good, could I be missing something?

Since the most recent egg is looking better, I would go with a disturbance during the night when calcification is happening.

Possible causes could be as small as a mouse rummaging around inside coop.
I found a mouse in a blocked nest box that I store supplies.

I dispatched it immediately.

Another time I had a raccoon visiting several times weekly during the night climbing on coops trying to access. Climbing up side of coop onto the rooftop.

Egg production dropped nearly in half. It came back up after catching and dispatching coon.

Also do limit the oats to one Tablespoon per hen daily as it's a low Protein treat.
I give my pullets and hens a treat of Scratch Grains daily. I use a coffee scoop to measure, it holds two Tablespoons. .

Hopefully your egg quality problem was just a temporary disturbance. GC

 

[dellamarie]

Thanks for that.

Since the most recent egg is looking better, I would go with a disturbance during the night when calcification is happening.

Possible causes could be as small as a mouse rummaging around inside coop.
I found a mouse in a blocked nest box that I store supplies.View attachment 2368962
I dispatched it immediately.

Another time I had a raccoon visiting several times weekly during the night climbing on coops trying to access. Climbing up side of coop onto the rooftop.View attachment 2368961
Egg production dropped nearly in half. It came back up after catching and dispatching coon.

Also do limit the oats to one Tablespoon per hen daily as it's a low Protein treat.
I give my pullets and hens a treat of Scratch Grains daily. I use a coffee scoop to measure, it holds two Tablespoons.View attachment 2368975.

Hopefully your egg quality problem was just a temporary disturbance. GC

Thanks for that, will follow your advice. Could be something like a mouse, they are harvesting in the fields all around us at the moment and there are so many mice being made homeless that our cat is 100% eating out.