Eggs with a dark, greasy coating

[billw]

The last couple days, we have gotten one egg with a dark gray/brown greasy coating. It can be rubbed off, but takes some work. The rest of the eggs are laid in the same place and completely normal. I'm pretty sure that this coating came from the duck, rather than the environment.

Any ideas what this might be?

 

[jessiduck]

It's most likely the slime-ish excretion that helps push the egg out of your hen that's on the egg. Nothing serious! Enjoy the eggs!

 

[Tahai]

what kind of duck is it? Cayuga's lay eggs with a blackish coating that can be rubbed off. I remember reading somewhere that other black ducks can have a coating similar to this.

 

[Amiga]

When my ducks take a little time off, the first egg or three come with extra bloom.

 

[poultry09]

My runners lay the light black to dark black eggs and some times a green/blue egg most of the black color comes off (with lots of work) and lots of the time they are really slimey, I have alwase wondered how/why they where slimey

 

[billw]

what kind of duck is it? Cayuga's lay eggs with a blackish coating that can be rubbed off. I remember reading somewhere that other black ducks can have a coating similar to this.

We have nine possible layers of three different varieties and are getting about five eggs per day, so it is impossible to say who laid any particular egg. About half are black Swedish, so it could be black duck = black egg.

We get some bluish/greenish eggs, but that color doesn't wash off. This dark stuff is definitely a coating over the egg shell. We got another this morning in the same condition. I guess it could be extra bloom. On the rest of the eggs, we just get a light, colorless, kind of powdery coating, so I didn't associated a dark, greasy substance with bloom.

Anyway, I'm not worried about it - just curious. We had a duck that was sickly and separated from the group for a while. After reintroducing her, we jumped from 4 to 5 eggs and the dark ones started to appear, so I wondered if it might be related.

 

[billw]

My runners lay the light black to dark black eggs and some times a green/blue egg most of the black color comes off (with lots of work) and lots of the time they are really slimey, I have alwase wondered how/why they where slimey

Yeah, that sounds like what I am talking about. It is like somebody handled the eggs after working on their car.

 

[jessiduck]

You can try soaking them in a mild vinegar and water solution! It helps get the slime off.

 

[poultry09]

Yeah, that sounds like what I am talking about. It is like somebody handled the eggs after working on their car.

Yep thats exactly what it is like, I just soak all my eggs in warm water for 5-10 min and then run them under hot water and use a washcloth to clean them off, but sometimes they are so slimey they slip out of my hands and break in the sink The blue/green ones are a really cool egg color.

 

[toadbriar]

pretty sure the waxy bloom coating has bacteria-resistant properties that helps preserve the contents of the egg. I rinse mine in warm water to get rid of any loose debris, but I preserve the bloom whether I use the eggs for hatch or eating. My girls' bloom range from dingy brown on tan eggs to sooty gray on my green-egg layer. And at the beginning of the season yeah the green eggs are nearly black. I just like to make sure the egg buyers know it's a natural coating, not poop!