Lumpy egg diagnosis

[ebretzel]

Late this past summer our oldest hen (welsummer) stopped laying. She was a very consistent layer for 2 years straight and we figured she just was ready for a break. She has not laid any eggs since. Then our other 3 hens (1.5 years) stopped laying as well in September, but they were obviously going through a molt and with fall daylight hours we thought it was a natural drop in egg production. I do not believe they have begun laying again now after about 2 months -- which appears still within normal molt timeframe -- but some of the egg colors are very similar to our newest batch so it's a bit hard to decipher if some of the wrinkly eggs are new or "old."

A few weeks ago our youngest pullets, about 6 months old, began laying. However, we had gotten some wrinkled eggs from our 1.5 yr old BO before she stopped laying and are now getting quite a few wrinkled eggs from our newly laying olive egger, and just today got this really funky, lumpy egg -- pic below. Are these just normal pre-molt and "figuring out how to lay egg" problems?

We had not noticed any sickness or weird behavior, but we also don't keep a very close eye on them and are fairly new to chicken-keeping so it's quite possible we missed signs. I keep seeing photos of wrinkled eggs caused by infectious bronchitis, and they look just like the eggs we've gotten. No one has died, but could there maybe have been a case of IB earlier this year which may have caused our welsummer to stop laying and possibly affected others? Or am I just paranoid?

 

[AGirlAndHerChickens03]

Late this past summer our oldest hen (welsummer) stopped laying. She was a very consistent layer for 2 years straight and we figured she just was ready for a break. She has not laid any eggs since. Then our other 3 hens (1.5 years) stopped laying as well in September, but they were obviously going through a molt and with fall daylight hours we thought it was a natural drop in egg production. I do not believe they have begun laying again now after about 2 months -- which appears still within normal molt timeframe -- but some of the egg colors are very similar to our newest batch so it's a bit hard to decipher if some of the wrinkly eggs are new or "old."

A few weeks ago our youngest pullets, about 6 months old, began laying. However, we had gotten some wrinkled eggs from our 1.5 yr old BO before she stopped laying and are now getting quite a few wrinkled eggs from our newly laying olive egger, and just today got this really funky, lumpy egg -- pic below. Are these just normal pre-molt and "figuring out how to lay egg" problems?

We had not noticed any sickness or weird behavior, but we also don't keep a very close eye on them and are fairly new to chicken-keeping so it's quite possible we missed signs. I keep seeing photos of wrinkled eggs caused by infectious bronchitis, and they look just like the eggs we've gotten. No one has died, but could there maybe have been a case of IB earlier this year which may have caused our welsummer to stop laying and possibly affected others? Or am I just paranoid?

View attachment 1601394View attachment 1601395

I am by no means an expert on egg laying behaviors and sicknesses involving eggs. I have gotten a few eggs like that before, and, oddly enough, they usually come in the winter. I once even got an egg with no shell (in the winter, again)! I'm happy to report that I've never lost any chickens over the winter, even when they lay some funky eggs. It could be off molt eggs or new layer eggs. Maybe a combination of both? Not sure, but I would get too worked up about it.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Let's see if I can find that article ....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I believe that's a sign of infectious bronchitis.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Is this the proper a treatment for IB - Dry/clean condition, vitamins (NutriDrench, Poultry Booster, Poultry Cell), probiotic - plain yogurt?

I'm compiling a list of treatment vs illness as I read.

 

[aart]

and just today got this really funky, lumpy egg -- pic below. Are these just normal pre-molt and "figuring out how to lay egg" problems?

Whoaa....those are some serious shell malformations, especially the bluer one. These are from newly laying birds..same bird or 2 different birds? Had they laid any 'normal' eggs before these appeared? Are all their eggs like that? I would think that a bird sick enough to lay those would also show other sign of illness, but I am no expert in poultry disease.
What all and exactly how are you feeding?

I'm compiling a list of treatment vs illness as I read.

That's great! But this is not the place to ask. Start new thread in the disease forum and tag some of the members who are good at diseases to chime in, Casportpony and Wyorp Rock and Pyxis would be a few good ones to start with.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Never thought of that