Hen laid brown egg with white spots... okay to eat?

[JackieY]

Hi all! Lots of egg-citement here, as our two hens have finally started laying. The golden comet has laid about a dozen eggs, and the aracauna laid her first egg today! My question is about the egg my golden comet (creatively named "Goldie" by my six year old) laid yesterday. If the picture goes through right, it's the speckled egg in the top left of the carton. She normally lays nice brown eggs, deposited in the nesting box. Yesterday morning she was hanging out in one of the horse stalls, so when the nest box was empty I went looking in the stall... Sure enough, this egg was in the corner. For added context, we're in Maine, and temps would have been below freezing on the stall floor; not sure how long the egg was there, but it wasn't warm. Any ideas what might cause that speckling? And is it safe to eat? This morning Goldie left us an egg in her usual location, and back to her usual color. Thanks for any input!

 

[kbarrett]

Hi,

My previous flock consisted of leghorns & 3 golden comets. One of the comets used to lay exactly the same looking egg. Sometimes it would even feel a bit rough/ chalky. They all had the same diet of layena, whatever they found free ranging and access to oyster shell.

We always ate them and I also gave lots away with no complaints from anyone.

I have 1 golden comet in my current flock who hasn't started laying yet. Her name is Goldie as well

 

[maranfarmer563]

I get one egg like that about once a month on the floor from my new Hampshires. I figured it was the acid from the manure on the shells,we used it any way

 

[JackieY]

Thanks so much! That egg is next up for breakfast, then. kbarrett, I hope your Goldie starts churning out delicious eggs for you soon. Maranfarmer563, good point about the manure - it was definitely not sitting in a pristine nesting box, so that could be it!

 

[donrae]

It's just one of those cool normal variations you get when you raise your own birds. Sometimes it's excess calcium on the shell giving weird ridges or bumps, sometimes the color gets applied a little differently on the way out. Perfectly fine, no issues with your girl. Seems production breeds like the sex links have a higher tendancy for things like this.


Just cause I like showing off my eggs....

 

[JackieY]

Whoa - cool collection! My spotty egg looks most like the one in your first picture. But the far right egg in the bottom photo is really neat looking - what breed laid that one??

 

[deacons]

I occasionally get light brown with darker brown speckles. But the weirdest one I got recently looked like this:



Reminded me of a freshly painted easter egg.

 

[donrae]

deacons--that is cool! It looks like someone used wax and then colored a white egg!

That egg is what I called my camo egg. Hen was a mixed breed with Leghorn, barred Rock, Easter egger and I think Welsummer. Talk about a happy accident!

 

[allisonmarie]

Our buckeye hens are in their first weeks of laying and a couple of the eggs looked like this. Yummy still but weird.