Hen Laying Oddly Shaped, Flat-Sided Eggs

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

My ISA Brown started laying at the end of August. At first, she laid daily supermodel eggs. We were so proud because she had only one month earlier been diagnosed with a heart murmur (after almost dying from heat stroke). She made a full recovery from the heat stroke incident and we'd been vigilant with her since.

Twice during her first few weeks of laying she'd randomly lay a shell-less egg in the coop in the evening. The first time she went right back to normal laying. The second, she took 4-5 days off and then started laying really weirdly shaped eggs less often (every other day or so). They tend to be elongated with a flatter side, which is always lighter or faded looking.

She's been eating, drinking, pooping, and acting normally. Her comb is a little paler but only sporadically. I keep worrying about egg binding but nothing in her behavior indicates such.

It has been a bit of a hot spell, and given she has a heart murmur, I thought she might be prone to stress (indicated in her eggs).

Any thoughts? Similar experiences?

 

[chrissynemetz]

I know when pullets are first laying they can give you all sorts of weird eggs.... but given her medical problems, I'm not sure if that's what this is?
Keep watching her, hopefully this is just a glitch and she'll be back to laying normal eggs soon.

 

[Willowspirit]

Are you giving her calcium on the side? What kind of food do you feed?

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Are you giving her calcium on the side? What kind of food do you feed?[/QUOTE
She gets layer feed (nature's best organic) and oyster shells free choice. Her egg shells are rock solid so not sure if it's a calcium deficiency. The vet prescribed calsorb for her when we went in about heat stress and she found the heart murmur (since it was right around when she'd start laying). So I supplemented her with calsorb the few occasions she had shell-less eggs, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

I know when pullets are first laying they can give you all sorts of weird eggs.... but given her medical problems, I'm not sure if that's what this is?
Keep watching her, hopefully this is just a glitch and she'll be back to laying normal eggs soon.

I hope so, too. She's such a trooper.

 

[aart]

She's got a funky shell gland.....might smooth out,
or might not considering her health issues.

 

[Willowspirit]

She's got a funky shell gland.....might smooth out,
or might not considering her health issues.

But there’s really nothing wrong with the egg, right?

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

But there’s really nothing wrong with the egg, right?

The egg is fine (normal contents) and has a nice, hard shell, but it lacks uniformity. It tends to be a little flattened and/or misshapen on one side and has some faded coloring. They're pretty big.

She laid another today--slightly less weird-looking but still weird. She is acting super spunky and normal, though. Eating and drinking and pooping and all that jazz. Maybe she will always lay weird shells.

 

[Willowspirit]

The egg is fine (normal contents) and has a nice, hard shell, but it lacks uniformity. It tends to be a little flattened and/or misshapen on one side and has some faded coloring. They're pretty big.

She laid another today--slightly less weird-looking but still weird. She is acting super spunky and normal, though. Eating and drinking and pooping and all that jazz. Maybe she will always lay weird shells.

She’s just the way she is, I suppose. What the heck!
Btw I love your name!

 

[Ms Biddy]

These are called slab sided eggs and are caused when there's a traffic jam in the oviduct and one egg rests against another. There are several causes. The eggs are fine though.