How can I reduce blood/pigment spots?

[sarousi]

Assuming your girls aren't around any roosters any "blood" spots found in an egg is really actually just a pigment. Will these spots be reduced if the egg is from a white layer, and increase if it is from a brown layer? If not, how can I reduce the occurrence of these spots?

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

I don't really think you can do anything about it but here is a web site about some of that stuff about the eggs https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/gms1-genetics-of-egg-color/ hope this helps

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The darker the egg pigment the more likely some pigment ends up on the inside of an egg, it seems to be an individual thing. The whiter the egg the less likely for you to actually see the spots.

Blood spots are different, they are pieces of tissue or from ruptured blood vessels. Flighty birds who jump around and bump themselves can have more blood spots, so minimizing stress and frightening experiences will keep blood spots down. And of course some birds are more prone to them.

 

[junebuggena]

Assuming your girls aren't around any roosters any "blood" spots found in an egg is really actually just a pigment. Will these spots be reduced if the egg is from a white layer, and increase if it is from a brown layer? If not, how can I reduce the occurrence of these spots?

First off, the only difference between and infertile egg and a fertile egg is the 'bullseye.' Fertile eggs do not spontaneously develop into chicks. That can only happen if an egg is kept at a near 100* for several days, and even then, all you would see is a bit of veining.
Meat/blood spots can happen randomly and are not an indication of a developing embryo. It's a bit of tissue that broke off the oviduct when the yolk was released. Some hens are more prone to them than others.
For example, this egg is fertile (bull's eye on the upper right) and has a meat/blood spot on the opposite side. If this were a developing egg, the bull's eye would be red, with veining extending from it.

 

[sarousi]

The darker the egg pigment the more likely some pigment ends up on the inside of an egg, it seems to be an individual thing. The whiter the egg the less likely for you to actually see the spots.

When you say whiter the egg, you are referring to the shell?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

When you say whiter the egg, you are referring to the shell?

Funny I just read about this in an older edition of my Backyard Poultry magazine, it said as far as pigment spots, which are different than blood spots, that they are more common in brown eggs, estimates are 25-30%, white eggs occasionally contain small bits but are harder to see since they are white. So yes eggshell color is what I'm referring to.

 

[sarousi]

Funny I just read about this in an older edition of my Backyard Poultry magazine, it said as far as pigment spots, which are different than blood spots, that they are more common in brown eggs, estimates are 25-30%, white eggs occasionally contain small bits but are harder to see since they are white. So yes eggshell color is what I'm referring to.

I am so glad you let me know about that. I was under the impression that the pigments in white eggs are also white, in the pigments in brown eggs are a burgundy color. Believe it or not this makes my life a lot easier now.

 

[aart]

Quote: I have never heard of shell pigment ending up inside an egg.......the brown is a coating and not part of the shell itself.
What issue of Backyard Poultry magazine?

The only spots I've seen in an egg were tiny pieces of tissue or red or brown blood from broke blood vessel when ova is released....as described above by junebuggena.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Backyard Poultry, volume 8, number 4, August/September 2013 page 35, in ask the answer man, blood spotted eggs.

Those smaller brown dots that you see on an egg yolk is what they are calling pigment spots, they are different than blood spots and meat spots, they are usually a circle, or dot. He said they come from the ovary or oviduct, so they aren't coming from the shell gland, so I'm unsure if they are actual pigment , but they are seen more in brown eggs, usually the darker ones. It was new to me too, but now I understand the brown gunk in my eggs.

 

[aart]

Backyard Poultry, volume 8, number 4, August/September 2013 page 35, in ask the answer man, blood spotted eggs.

Those smaller brown dots that you see on an egg yolk is what they are calling pigment spots, they are different than blood spots and meat spots, they are usually a circle, or dot. He said they come from the ovary or oviduct, so they aren't coming from the shell gland, so I'm unsure if they are actual pigment , but they are seen more in brown eggs, usually the darker ones. It was new to me too, but now I understand the brown gunk in my eggs.

Hmmm...my bet is still blood. will see if i can find that article, thanks!