gobs of green goo in Araucana eggs

[jgunby]

We recently aquired a flock of 12 laying hens, all past their prime. The oldest bird in the group is an Araucana, reportedly at least 3 years old. We have had the birds for over 3 weeks now and they have finally seemed to settle in and start laying. We have the birds on 14 hours of daylight and are starting to collect between 4 to 6 eggs a day. The Araucana gave us her first egg yesterday and when opened, it contained a yolk, cloudy egg white, and a greenish grey, formed, soft glob (about 2-3 cm long). We discarded the egg. Today, she gave us two eggs! Both had very small flecks of the same greenish grey, soft goo in the egg white (not nearly as large or well formed as the first one). What is this goo? Is she just too old to lay healthy eggs? I was surprised to get three eggs from her within two days... is it too stressful for her to be exposed to 14 hours light? Any advice is much appreciated. We have raised broliers and turkeys, but this is our first flock of laying hens. Thank you!

 

[peafowlmom]

I don't know what is wrong w/her but 14 hours is a long time. I would cut down that time. Good Luck

 

[snowflake]

She is not to old, but with the stress of the move 14hrs may be to much. Never have seen or read that. did you try to google it ?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

There are people on BYC who have hens older than 3 years, not to worry.

But I don't know what the greenish goo is. If it were me, I'd not eat those eggs. You should be able to shine a flashlight up next to the egg and candle them before you crack them to determine which ones are inedible (to save yourself the trauma of viewing it).

One thing I'd worry about is that she has an infection though. If this was my hen I'd probably try to treat her with an antibiotic. But I cannot advise antibiotic use willy-nilly to other folks, and this might not be an infection at all. I have never seen this happen.

If you take your chickens to vets ($) then that might be in order...or you can wait it out.

Some bacteria do grow green in respiratory infections, is why I was wondering about the possibility of infection. I would probably take an egg in to a vet to have them examine it for bacteria, I suppose. They might not charge a lot for that. I would want to rule out bacteria for sure as I have two children.

I hope that someone who has seen this happen will be able to tell us exactly what it is.

 

[jgunby]

I've googled it with no success. As for daylight, when I was researching winter conditions that would promote continued laying, I was coming across recommendations of 12-16 hours daylight, so I figured 14 was middle of the road.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
a lot of folks use 14 hrs- unless your chicken is eggbound should be ok

 

[EweSheep]

Sounds like she has an infection going on in the oviduct somewhere.

Just keep an eye out on her eggs. If the green goo keeps going thru her laying cycle, unless she is a pet, you can cull her out. If there is no more green goo, then she must have gotten rid of something that was bothering her.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/34/rotten-eggs

Thank you Flockwatcher (one of the mods) for this link and I found the page on the link that deals with green. (I saw this page in another thread.)

 

[jgunby]

Thank you very much! The thought of infection had crossed my mind and given that the amount of green goo seems to have decreased over the passage of these three eggs, I'll just keep an eye on it and see if it continues to peter out. I know a vet and will have him take a look at the green stuff should it continue and I'll repost if it turns out to be anything conclusive. Thanks again!