Gross, but...tiny grey egg things in egg white?

[amysflock]

My hubby does most of our breakfast cooking, and about a month ago he pointed out some tiny little egg-like things, in a clump, in the white of an Easter Egger egg he'd just cracked. I thought perhaps spiders had been in the cupboards and the eggs were inside the cup he used to crack the eggs into. We brushed it off.

Well, last night it happened again. It was before I got home so I didn't see (he cracked the eggs directly on the griddle and decided to cook and discard the nasty one). He's color blind, so doesn't trust his color descriptions, but thought they were probably gray like the last ones. The egg-things are a little smaller than pin heads. These, too, were in an Easter Egger's eggs (same girl's?). One of my hens has been laying eggs with large calcium deposits (I think) on the outside of the shells, big ol' lumps.

Any ideas what could be going on here? Does she have some sort of ailment, parasite, etc., or is this some shade of normal? It's quite disturbing, and I'm hoping they're not inside the eggs I'm selling to my co-workers (I only sell the nice looking ones, not lumpy, cracked or otherwise odd-looking, but I have no idea what might be lurking in the whites). I have seen a couple Easter Egger eggs with cloudy looking egg whites over the past couple months, too, but it's never consistent, so I didn't think much of it. Am I missing something big here?

Thanks!

 

[Guitartists]

I think maybe you are talking about meat spots. It's cells that slough off during the egg formation process. They just happen. You can just pick them out. Commercial egg places scan for them and remove before packaging

I'm sure experts will offer up more info on the subject. Not sure if there is a specific cause or anything you can do to avoid them.

 

[amysflock]

Where do the meat spots come from, if that's what they are? Are they related to fertile eggs? If so, that can't be it because we don't have a rooster. I just want to make sure there's not something wrong that we need to treat.

Thanks!

 

[Guitartists]

It's just little bits of tissue that break off during the egg process and end up inside of the egg. Nothing to do with fertilization and as far as I know it's nothing to treat. Lemme go see if I can find the other thread....

Occasionally you will find a meat spot, but they should be just that a spot. Happens when a small piece of meat tears off the inside of the hen and goes with the yolk as the egg forms.

See this link...has pics! http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/Fresh/Meat-Spots.html​

 

[amysflock]

The photos don't look quite the same as what we've seen, but what an awesome resource that site is! Thank you!

 

[ShannonLeeP]

Hey I think one of my easter eggers mutts is doing the same thing. The clumps I found were chalky almost I was thinking it was some sort of over production of calcium her eggs have been rough and bumpy too. Did you ever learn more?