Fresh eggs smell rotten

[siroiszoo]

Well, our temps have finally fallen below 100 for about two weeks now. And I do believe that the rotten 'fresh' egg syndrome has disappeared, as well.

Never did find the offending hen, but all seems to be back to normal. I am so happy about that too. Cause I was getting very tired of cracking every egg, smelling it, then making Italian Cream Cakes (cause it uses so many eggs.)

 

[mechagrue]

That is so crazy - thanks for the update! I guess now you can say, "In MY day, it was so hot, the eggs went bad before they were even laid!"

 

[Emzyyy]

to tell if they are fresh put them in water if they are fresh they will sink if they are bad they will float because of the gasses emitted while rotting.

 

[siroiszoo]

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LOL!!!

 

[siroiszoo]

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I ran that test even though I was collecting several times a day because of the heat. Even the stinkers were sinking like rocks.

 

[siroiszoo]

To all who followed and helped with this post:

I FINALLY figured out why the fresh eggs were stinking!

Our temps started getting back up into the 100's again and the egg smell came back!

But this time, I noticed what was happening.

Firstly, a hen broke an egg in the nest one morning. I cleaned it up, scrapped the wood beneath the nesting box as best as I could (I use the bread crates, the ones bread delivery trucks use to transport the loafs of bread in, filled with hay), then put fresh hay in and replaced the nest. However, I didn't get all of the broken egg up because the rotten egg smell was back by evening.

Also, by that evening and the following day, the fresh eggs where smelling bad. So I removed the nest completely and rescrubbed the wooden bottom of the nesting area. I left the nesting crate out for several days before replacing it.

Problem solved!

Apparently, since egg shells are porous, the excessive heat combined with the body heat of the hens sitting on the eggs allowed the rotten egg smell from the remains of the broken eggs to permeate through to the fresh eggs. So, when I first started having this problem, I hadn't noticed that an egg had been broken in the nest because there was no evidence by the time I noticed the smell. And even though I had cleaned the nest as a precaution, I hadn't cleaned the wood below the nest as thoroughly.

Therefore, I'm happy to report that my hens do not have some sort of strange infection or disease! YAY!

 

[verlaj]

Just read the thread for the first time - glad you discovered and solved the problem!

Now, I think you need to start a new thread...and post the recipe fro Italian Cream Cakes!

If you do - thanks in advance!

 

[mechagrue]

That is some seriously awesome investigative work! And thanks so much for updating us - I have thought about your egg mystery often, since you first posted about it!

(Italian cream cakes? Yes, please, I second that request!)

 

[horsejody]

I had a problem recently with one hen's eggs being stinky. It was a nasty smell. The eggs were all fresh, but yucky! Then one day I figured it out. I was cleaning the ducks little pool (as I do daily) and realized that the eggs smelled like the duck's stinky swimming water. I watched the hen with the stinky eggs and learned that she preferred to drink the stinky duck water to the much cleaner water in the water dish.

So now she gets to live in the other side of the coop with a different run that is not shared with a duck. I only have one duck so it's not practical to put Chester Louise (the duck) separate from the chickens.

 

[AmyRey]

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And Amy makes three!