One of my hens is laying eggs with a darker brown tip. See picture. Also the outer surface of the egg feels like sand paper. Should I be concerned?
I wouldn't be concerned unless your chickens are showing any other signs of disease. The darker tip simply means that more pigment was deposited there. The rougher feel is likely caused by extra calcium deposits, which aren't too unusual, either. Sometimes, older hens will lay these types of eggs--their egg-making systems slow down a little with age and are more prone to creating pigment or texture defects. However, young hens can lay strangely pigmented or textured eggs, too. It varies with each hen.
Nope. It's just her original art. I have a hen that used to lay a swirl at the pointy end of her eggs. Every egg came out this way. She's almost 8 years old now, so she has not laid a normal egg in about 3 years. I get fart eggs on occasion from her.
Are the shells thin? I have one that lays like that, shells are often thin and break in nest...but not always. Figure it's a shell gland glitch....got worse as she got closer to molting, waiting to see if it clears up when she comes back into lay.
Sometimes glitches occur, but if it's every egg, then that is just how she applies her paint. Here is a Welsummer glitch in the paint booth. This was a one time deal, and will likely never happen again. The other side of the egg was normal.
