Is it normal for an Isa Brown Pullet to lay eggs with runny egg whites?

[rebeccaper]

Hi everyone,
My Isa brown pullet has started laying for a few weeks now. She lays nearly every day, and has even layed a double yolker!! But i'm wondering if its normal at this stage for the whites to be runny?? From memory, shouldn't they be thick? the yolks are also pale yellow. I feed her a blend from my local produce shop, which is pellets, cracked corn, peas, wheat, milo, and other seeds.and they get our table scraps sometimes too. I also let the chooks out every day to eat the grass and scratch around the yard. Any info would be appreciated

 

[Pinky]

How soon do you eat the eggs after they are laid? As eggs get older, the egg white starts to get runny/loose its thickness. The fresher the egg, the thicker the egg white will be. An egg laid today will have thicker egg white than an egg laid last week.

 

[sumi]

Common causes for runny egg whites are the age of the egg (like the above poster said), certain diseases (infectious bronchitis), high ammonia levels in the coop (from their droppings) and high temperatures in the coop. Also old age, old hens lay eggs with runny whites.
Your hen is young still, so I'm thinking you should check for signs of disease (runny nose, wheezing etc) and make sure their coop is well ventilated.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I would also be sure she got some animal protein, three or four times per week. Tuna, ground beef, pork, chicken, fish, etc.

 

[mickey328]

More fresh greens will make the yolk more gold too...the beta carotene is what does it. Grass and dandelions are hard to come by this time of year, but chard and spinach aren't too hard to find.

 

[rebeccaper]

Hi, Thanks for all your reply's My 5 year old fetches the egg as soon as its laid, so it cant be about freshness because i crack it open 5 or 10 minits after its laid, the white is always runny.. They are only cooped at night, and out all day from early morning till late afternoon/evening so the coop is only sleeping quaters so i don't think it could be due to amonia levels. no signs of runny nose or anything like that. It's got me baffled. Maybe she just naturally lays runny eggs? Also we are in Australia and have had a few hot days, but she still lays the same eggs on cooler days

 

[rebeccaper]

Thanks, i will look around for the animal protein, but don't like the idea of feeding her chicken she does get the table scraps tho and always has the left over meat the kids left,

 

[sumi]

I will see if I can get more info for you. If you are squeamish about feeding them chicken (I'm with you there! I don't even eat chicken myself) you can feed them tinned tuna, scrambled egg, meat scraps and things like that. Ask at your local butcher for the bit of meat and bone left on the meat saws. If they'll sell/give you that. In South Africa they sold it to people for their dogs, I don't know if they do that Aus. You can boil it and make sure there are no sharp bits of bone left and give your girls that for a calcium and protein boost.

 

[Den in Penn]

The white when laid, has several parts to it. There is an outer part that is thinner and so it is runny. There should still be part of the white that stands up however. As the egg ages the parts begin to meld and the white as a whole is more runny. The link gives more details.
http://thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/5/internal-and-external-egg-quality