Hen laid holes in egg 🥚

[Creber96]

Hello! One of my girls laid this egg with two holes in it today. They are not peck holes. They have “wrinkles” around the holes and the dark matter inside the holes is hard and seems like it might be the bloom. She laid one other egg yesterday that had concentrated color at the base (also was tiny and misshapen) similar to the concentration of color over these formed holes.
She and a few of my other older gals have also been laying eggs with meat and blood spots in them this season which I’m not sure the cause of, either. Some people chalk it up to age.
She is a more mature hen, 4 or 5 years old, maybe even older.
She’s just recently started to lay again after winter and now moving to a new place. She was originally with my mom on her farm but the rooster wouldn’t leave her alone so I acquired her here with my little flock.
She has been stressed as there was a recent dog attack (the dang thing somehow pulled my solid wood coop apart and got inside) about a month ago and she watched one of my birds be murdered. It petrified all my girls for a few days.
She free ranges all day, she enjoys lots of backyard bugs and grass among other things. I have layer feed available to all my girls but she seldom has much interest in it.
I occasionally treat with a handful of oats, finely diced carrots & jalapeños and berries scattered for them to scratch at which they enjoy.
I’m curious if it’s her age, the move, the trauma of murder or the combination of all the above that is causing these odd eggs.

 

[SueT]

Hi, welcome to BYC! I will be interested in what the experts say. I would chalk it up to age, but really I’ve never seen nor heard of anything like it!

 

[Creber96]

Hi, welcome to BYC! I will be interested in what the experts say. I would chalk it up to age, but really I’ve never seen nor heard of anything like it!

Thanks for the welcoming comment!
I’ve never seen anything like it, either. Been around and raised chickens my whole life. Lol. Yesterday there was an egg with 7 teeny tiny yolks in it and the egg was about an inch tall from one of my other mature girls.
So odd seeing so many different things going on all at once!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Likely a glitch since they're filled in. I had a hen with constant shell and calcium issues that often laid eggs so thin the membrane pulled shell fragments with it as it cooled after being laid

 

[Creber96]

Likely a glitch since they're filled in. I had a hen with constant shell and calcium issues that often laid eggs so thin the membrane pulled shell fragments with it as it cooled after being laid

Oh wow! That’s so wild. Nature is something else, ain’t it?
thank you for the input!

 

[aart]

Yesterday there was an egg with 7 teeny tiny yolks in it and the egg was about an inch tall from one of my other mature girls.

Ooooh, I would have loved to see a pic of this!

 

[wrathsfarm]

Ooooh, I would have loved to see a pic of this!

I agree... @Creber96 did you by chance get a pic?

 

[Creber96]

Ooooh, I would have loved to see a pic of this!

It’s hard to tell in this photo, which happened to be the only one I have,in the photo it looks like one tornado spiral of a yolk lol but in person you could distinctly see the separation between each tiny yolk. And they were TINY.

 

[Creber96]

I agree... @Creber96 did you by chance get a pic?

I did! I posted it.

 

[FunClucks]

Sounds age related to me, compounded by the fact that she just started laying again this season. It can take a while for their egg laying system to get the kinks worked out. Glitch in the shell glad is my opinion. Good new is, it's likely things will improve as she gets used to laying again. I think there's hope.

As far as meat spots in your other girls' eggs, meat spots are genetic and occur from day one for specific hens. Commercially, these hens are culled from the flock, and automated egg inspection technology uses very bright lights and computer analysis of imagery to ensure no meat spots make it to consumers. They are harmless and can be eaten, but folks aren't used to it if they're used to commercial eggs.

Now, if there's actual blood, and not meat spots (which are solid and dark dark red or brown), then I would say there's been some inclusion of ovarian tissue in the eggs. Probably fine to eat also, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't. Usually this is just a one-off, but if you have older hens, and they start having blood inside the egg/yolk on a regular basis and she's a pet, then I'd just start feeding that hen's eggs back to her flockmates until she ceases laying. This indicates a malfunction in the reproductive system as the egg is being created. I like to hide what I'm doing from the hens, crack the egg into a bowl, smash the shell with my fingers, and give it to them for an almost instant awesome treat.