"Flat" eggs?

[hakagal]

I have been raising chickens for 6 years, and this is a new one on me!
I have two pullets Barred Plymouth Rock X White Leghorn. They are the sweetest girls and have been laying for about three weeks.
The eggs are a good size and shape, and light brown in color, but they are flat on one side. I would think it was just one of those funny things that happens with an occasional hen, but it is the same with both of these girls.
At first thought it was because they were new layers, and perhaps the shells were just thin and/or soft, so I made sure to provide plenty of calcium in addition to their layer feed, and added extra fluff to the nests to be certain the eggs were not resting on the hard bottom. But it continues...
The eggs taste fine, and they both lay nearly every day. They are just perfect eggs that are flat on one side.
Any ideas or advice?
Thanks.

 

[Messipaw]

Do you have a picture to post?

 

[chicksurreal]

We had this happen for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We have 36 girls laying, so all I know is that it was a Dark Cornish egg. Sorry I can't be of more help. It was a very weird looking egg, like it had come out soft and whatever side it landed on went flat, then it hardened. Very strange.

 

[krista74]

I think if you do a search for "Slab Sided Eggs" you may find what you're looking for

- Krista

 

[hakagal]

Thanks Krista! I found what I was looking for by searching "slab sided eggs".
Sudden increase in light with new layers seems to be a cause. We went out of town for a week just as these girls started laying, and left a very bright security light on near their coop that is usually off at night, so they had light 24 hours a day during that time. Now that things are back to normal I hope to see the odd shaped eggs tapering off in frequency.
You guys are the best!

to chicksurreal: Yep, that is the exact description of my eggs. If your problem was lighting, I imagine you could expect to see it in more than one hen. The other two usual causes for this are stress and bronchial infection. Perhaps that is what happened with yours.

 

[chicksurreal]

Very interesting. Thanks for the information!

We haven't seen it again as of yet, so hopefully it was just a weird thing. I will be looking for them now, though. It wasn't a lighting issue, so most probably stress or illness.