Please Give Me the Low-Down on Fart/Fairy Eggs

[micstrachan]

Hi there. Please provide any links to Info on fart/fairy eggs. I just got home from work late today and when I went to collect eggs, I found my first one. Everybody seems pretty healthy, except a couple girls have very briefly lost their voice and got it back. Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally if you break one open you will find no real yolk, just a small piece of yolk or other smaller material. The hen will process them the same as a whole yolk, but because the "yolk" is small the whole egg is small. They generally are just glitches seen as hens are starting back up, ramping up production, or stopping production. Generally they are nothing to be worried about.

 

[Lilorp14]

Hi there. Please provide any links to Info on fart/ferry eggs. I just got home from work late today and when I went to collect eggs, I found my first one. Everybody seems pretty healthy, except a couple girls have very briefly lost their voice and got it back. Thanks!

Are your hens new layers or getting into their older years? If so, it's totally natural. There can also be the relatively rare fart egg belonging to a chicken in her prime. Whatever you do, don't eat them. They are basically malfunctions in a chickens ovaries and don't follow the sanitation rules they keep posted in there.

 

[micstrachan]

I have 1-year old and 2-year old hens. Seasoned layers, and nobody is all that old.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Did you break it open to see what's inside?

Usually it's egg white with possibly a little meat spot or "foreign matter" inside. I agree with @oldhenlikesdogs it's usually nothing to worry about.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[micstrachan]

I’ll have a look. There was also one pinkish slightly chalky egg. That one makes me nervous, as Rusty’s very last two shelled eggs were light pink.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I’ll have a look. There was also one pinkish slightly chalky egg. That one makes me nervous, as Rusty’s very last two shelled eggs were light pink.

Do you have some photos of the eggs?
The egg color can be affected by age, how much "dye" a hen has in her shell gland - several possibilities. I've notice in a couple of my older girls the color fades as the year progresses - they molt, the color is "normal", then starts to fade a little over time.

 

[micstrachan]

@Wyorp Rock I took this photo this morning, but have not yet cracked the tiny egg (still at work). These were yesterday’s eggs. I don’t see a normal egg from any of my three two-year-olds here (all three have distinctive eggs... Bridge (Barred Rock) lays torpedos, Margo’s (Brown Leghorn) are white, and so far, Bagheera (Black Australorp who has never molted not stopped laying) has the biggest brown eggs. I only have nine hens total, so you do the math... . The itty bitty or the light pink is probably from one of them. Sometimes Millie (Speckled Sussex) or Cashew (Buff Orp) lays a pinkish egg, but I’ll be watching closely for more.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Whichever one you suspect is laying an "off egg" put a little bluekote or food coloring (not red) on the outside of her vent - this will leave a color smear on the egg that is laid.

Just watch each one - as you have found each hen is a little different and she has her own "normal" I have one that has laid pointy eggs since day one - that is just the way she is. Not all eggs are going to be perfect, even in commercial operations-the public never sees those since eggs are graded and imperfect eggs are used for other things.

Hopefully @oldhenlikesdogs chimes in, but I don't see anything concerning about the eggs in the photos - they look "normal" to me I've found that first year eggs are much more consistent in color than in the older girls, but you still may have calcium deposits, speckles occasionally, etc.
The fairy egg is just small and one of those things that happen.

 

[micstrachan]

Thanks! All three of the big girls (2 year olds) laid today. All normal eggs, plus three normal eggs from the littles (1 year olds). All good. I have to help my sister with sonething tomorrow, so won’t get to watch who lays, but I can on Sunday. I won’t go crazy over this, but will be paying close attention.