Hen just strained to lay HUGE egg, input please (photo included)

[Lady of McCamley]

Just thought I'd run this by to everyone...not an emergency or "disease" so I didn't post in that thread...yet.

Just went out to gather eggs and found my 7 mo. old Delaware standing and really straining to get an egg laid.

At first I thought I had simply startled her in the "act" but usually they just sit and glare...but she was straining hard and moved out of the box to avoid me so I could see the partial egg stuck in her vent (I feared a bound egg...but fortunately it has made its way through).

I left her alone and checked on her in 10 minutes. She was running around with the flock and okay. I picked her up and saw that she was a little wet at the vent but no blood stain nor obvious tears and fortunately everything looked to be in place (no prolapse).

And she left me this HUGE egg...with warped shell

I watch this hen as I am pretty sure she's the one that brought IB into the flock a couple of months ago, and she was laying soft shell eggs at the beginning of starting to lay, which I know can happen, but because of the IB I try to keep a close watch on her as someone has been laying a very fragile egg. I thought it was her, but this has proved me wrong as "fragile egg layer" had already come and gone and she was in the box straining.

Anyway, it is huge, with warped shell, covered with some mucus and blood but in tact. I know IB can cause shell warping...but this is the first I've seen of this severe of warping. I've only gotten one egg type with very minor shell warping around the equator (sort of like two halves coming together)... probably hers as I have now proven her shell color and it matched the "equator" egg.

What is your experience...I know they can lay odd eggs every now and then, some huge (I'm sure this is a double or triple yolker), and this is the first sighting of this happening. I'll obviously keep an eye on her, but thought I'd get your thoughts too. Hopefully this isn't the harbinger of worse things to come for her.

Thanks
Lady of McCamley

Photo below (normal x-large egg on right...see what I mean by HUGE egg!)

 

[loveourbirds]

that is one huge egg. if the shell is solid i think you are fine. when our eggs start getting to big (as a group) i drop the fat and protein content in our feed. i am leaning towards the roughness just being from her struggle, but im going to share this thread with someone who is writing an article on odd eggs at the moment. she "sumi" might have more insight for you.

 

[salkxsj]

Just thought I'd run this by to everyone...not an emergency or "disease" so I didn't post in that thread...yet. Just went out to gather eggs and found my 7 mo. old Delaware standing and really straining to get an egg laid. At first I thought I had simply startled her in the "act" but usually they just sit and glare...but she was straining hard and moved out of the box to avoid me so I could see the partial egg stuck in her vent (I feared a bound egg...but fortunately it has made its way through). I left her alone and checked on her in 10 minutes. She was running around with the flock and okay. I picked her up and saw that she was a little wet at the vent but no blood stain nor obvious tears and fortunately everything looked to be in place (no prolapse). And she left me this HUGE egg...with warped shell I watch this hen as I am pretty sure she's the one that brought IB into the flock a couple of months ago, and she was laying soft shell eggs at the beginning of starting to lay, which I know can happen, but because of the IB I try to keep a close watch on her as someone has been laying a very fragile egg. I thought it was her, but this has proved me wrong as "fragile egg layer" had already come and gone and she was in the box straining. Anyway, it is huge, with warped shell, covered with some mucus and blood but in tact. I know IB can cause shell warping...but this is the first I've seen of this severe of warping. I've only gotten one egg type with very minor shell warping around the equator (sort of like two halves coming together)... probably hers as I have now proven her shell color and it matched the "equator" egg. What is your experience...I know they can lay odd eggs every now and then, some huge (I'm sure this is a double or triple yolker), and this is the first sighting of this happening. I'll obviously keep an eye on her, but thought I'd get your thoughts too. Hopefully this isn't the harbinger of worse things to come for her. Thanks Lady of McCamley Photo below (normal x-large egg on right...see what I mean by HUGE egg!) please tell me about the contents when you open them

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Will do. (Will have for breakfast tomorrow...may feed family)

Lady of McCamley

 

[Lady of McCamley]

...oh and I weighed it with my postal scale (which has not been checked by standards for forever)...and it weighed 3.5 oz.

Wow. Biggest egg I've gotten yet.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Veer67]

Occasionally my EE Pine will lay giant eggs ( even bigger than the normal extra large) that contain double yolkers. She first walks around the yard with a drooping butt far from the flock and when she feels that the egg is coming out, she finds a private area to lay it.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Occasionally my EE Pine will lay giant eggs ( even bigger than the normal extra large) that contain double yolkers. She first walks around the yard with a drooping butt far from the flock and when she feels that the egg is coming out, she finds a private area to lay it.

That's good to know...because that's what she did was walk around a bit with it "hanging" so to speak.

Like I said, she looked fine in moments afterwards, so I am assuming all is well.

Poor thing...that had to hurt.
Lady of McCamley

 

[Annasg]

My Plymouth Rock hen had a terrible time yesterday trying to lay. I was working on the new chicken coop that I am making especially for her, because the rooster is so terribly horny, I had to separate them. I watched and listened to her for a long time and she never laid that egg. I went out this morning and she still hadn't laid it. Yesterday before I put her in the Hen House, I realized that I had not given her any Laying Mash. I have her in a pen because of rooster injuries. So I gave her lots of mash last night and later on in the day today, she laid the biggest egg that I have collected from any of my birds and some of them lay some pretty big eggs at times. Normally, for her, she lays around 3pm. Today, it was around noon. Maybe it is just a 'chicken thing'.

 

[Annasg]

I am new to this. What is IB?

 

[loveourbirds]

Infectious Bronchitis (IB)

This is one of the most common chicken infections caused by a Coronavirus which varies antigenically. The depth of this infection varies depending on a number of factors including the birds' age, virulence of the virus, vaccination done prior to infection, maternal immunity, and presence of other complicating infections. The mortality rate from this disease is anywhere between 0-25 percent.

Signs and symptoms

- Loss of appetite
- Depression
- coughing
- Gasping
- Dyspnoea
- Huddling
- Diarrhea
- Wet litter
- Diuresis

from this link: http://www.localharvest.org/blog/26992/entry/respiratory_disease_in_chickens