Ew.....cracked open a really bloody egg

[Achelois]

I should have got a photo too, but I was making pancakes, so....

I've had blood spots often enough but this was more than that. It looked like an intact blood vessel, thick at one end and wrapped around two sides of the yolk. The blastodisc was still clearly visible and I don't think it was a fertile one. Our light sussex rooster is just coming up 16 weeks.

Has anyone seen that much blood in a - presumably infertile - egg? It was freshly laid. Should I worry that something is wrong with my hen (she seems well) or just a random occurrence as with blood & meat spots?

 

[CrazyChookLady5]

I have cracked open a fertile egg, it's gross. kinda turns you off eating!
I would say that it's fertile, but if you don't have roosters then maybe there's something wrong with your chook or It could just be a one off thing!

 

[Achelois]

The thing is - I could still see the blastodisc. It wasn't developed at all. If it was fertile, how could it develop a huge long blood vessel (inside the hen) and the blastodisc not have developed at all - given that IS what becomes the chick? Weirdest/nastiest egg I've ever seen!

 

[aart]

Chances are that it looked like a blood vessel, but probably wasn't.
A blood smear rather than a blood spot.
Too bad you didn't get a pic!

 

[Achelois]

I should have taken a photo, but I didn't want the kids to know what was going into their pancakes. There weren't many eggs that day. It seems to have been a one-off, though - all the other eggs have been perfect. She's a hybrid LS/RIR and her eggs have much nicer shells than those of the orpingtons. I've started giving them extra grit but I think the orps are useless foragers.