HELP!!! My eggs tase disgusting!!!

[Lmeeks75]

I have had my 5 chickens for almost a year and recently (in the last few weeks) my eggs have started tasting funny. I thought maybe it was because I was pregnant but now my hubby thinks they taste bad now too. I can "smell" the taste around my coop and run but can't pinpoint it. There run is dirt/gravel and they have access to old lumber that they seem to like to peck at in the run... We converted an old dog pin. I am planning on moving the coop and run to my yard this spring before we add our spring chicks to the flock this summer. In the mean time what can I do?? They are already eating a good quality of food (pellets), scratch, cracked corn, whole corn and scrapes. They cannot free range right now due to their location. I also put ACV in their water. Is there anything else I can do to neutralize the bad taste of whatever they are getting into? Should I put something down inside the run? Could it be the old lumber or dirt??? I am fairly confident it is not their food source. HELP!!! So not worth the work for BAD tasting eggs!!! I am devastated!!!

On another note...what do YOU put in your coop as far as bedding?

 

[Twinkkitten]

I use hay for bedding. I have been advised here that wood shavings are perferred. They need to be changed ever few weeks.No idea why your eggs taste bad. I am allergic to eggs so I give mine away. Everyone says they are delicious. Hope you find the answer. You do collect the eggs daily right?

 

[fluffiestchick]

You obviously also
wash them correct?

 

[Lmeeks75]

Yes - Eggs are collected daily.

 

[Lmeeks75]

I read NOT to wash them before use, that the eggs have a protective layer around them. I do wash them right before I use them.

 

[Coralietg]

I read NOT to wash them before use, that the eggs have a protective layer around them. I do wash them right before I use them.

Correct, best not to wash your eggs.

Very weird about your bad tasting eggs! Doesn't seem like the lumber or dirt would make a difference. We use mulched leaves and wood shavings for the floor of the run, hay for the coop.

 

[ivan3]

Lmeeks75 wrote: ... I can "smell" the taste around my coop and run but can't pinpoint it.

A `rotten egg' odor? Possible contamination of water/change of water source? Any area under coop/under bedding where mice/rats could have died? Examined/sniffed chooks (possible reproductive organs `gone bad' on one?). Using deep litter method and sudden warm-up in weather? Hidden hen nest with eggs gone over? Run with inadequate drainage and it's starting to thaw?

Just some ideas. If source remains obscure, I'd strip out coop and replace bedding with clean wood chips that have a handful of amorphous diatomaceous earth mixed in per 5 gal. bucket of packed wood chips (primarily for the desiccant effect of the ADE - absorbs 4 times its wt. in water - will keep poop drying up for a bit and suppress most dampness in coop (high humidity tends to amplify odors - generalized miasma making it difficult to ID source).

 

[Lmeeks75]

Thanks so much for the info and suggestions!!! I am going to get the coop cleaned out this week, although it was just done about a month ago. The smell/taste is definitely "earthy" in nature. So not rotten eggs or death. Plus, it's all hen eggs not just one so they all have to be ingesting the same thing. It HAS to have something to do with the temperature above freezing and all the moisture. It's harder to smell now that we are below freezing again. When I clean the coop can I put the wood chips in the run? Is that better than dirt/gravel? I was also thinking about getting some sand for the run. Any thoughts on that? When I move the coop I was planning on trying to raise it off the ground. Any suggestions as to how to do that? It will sit on dirt/ground.
Pic of current set-up...I know it's not pretty, just temporary.

 

[ivan3]

Thanks so much for the info and suggestions!!! I am going to get the coop cleaned out this week, although it was just done about a month ago. The smell/taste is definitely "earthy" in nature. So not rotten eggs or death. Plus, it's all hen eggs not just one so they all have to be ingesting the same thing. It HAS to have something to do with the temperature above freezing and all the moisture. It's harder to smell now that we are below freezing again. When I clean the coop can I put the wood chips in the run? Is that better than dirt/gravel? I was also thinking about getting some sand for the run. Any thoughts on that? When I move the coop I was planning on trying to raise it off the ground. Any suggestions as to how to do that? It will sit on dirt/ground. Pic of current set-up...I know it's not pretty, just temporary.

Our turks are the messiest and, prior to our sand additions, they would look like avian companions of the Terracotta warriors of emperor Huang, come the Spring thaw (mud/poop/clay). Runs are on a slight slope, with large rocks lining fence on downhill limit. Sand that washes into rocks is simply raked back up into run. Turkey shed & chicken coop have treated plywood floors covered by congoleum remnants. This base is, in turn, covered with 2-3 inches of sand under a couple of inches of wood chips & a bit of straw. All of that is removed every Spring and replaced (sand added to runs - bedding to the bases of plants). Hope you're able to `sniff out' the source of the offending odor/flavor. Earthy, `mouldering' could be some `fungus' taking advantage of nutrients in poop breaking down. Sand, if runs are sloped, speeds evaporation (more surface area) and limits concentration of nutrients.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Anything different in the scraps they've been getting? Onions, fish, tuna, sardines - that could possibly impact the taste?