please help - tiny eggs on eggshell

[andredoep]

Hi all, the past few days we have gotten eggs from our egg layers that have tiny eggs laid on the outside of the egg on the shell. At first glance it looks like maybe fly or bugg eggs concentrated over a relatively small area, sometimes larger. Oour concern is that it may be some kind of parasitic eggs that originated from the inside and not outside. We are in VA so it is not yet that warm for all sorts of buggs. The coop is kept clean with hay as bedding, they also pasture during the day. Anybody with an idea of what it may be. Thanks a million! Andre.

 

[PortageGirl]

Pictures would be good, if it's just rough shells, the most common cause is not enough water, though stress or disturbances can cause a group of eggs to be layed that way.

If it's one hen, and she's doing it consistantly, that is laying these, it might be a defective gland (that makes the calcium for the shell) in that one hen... if it's many hens, and it's consistant throughout the flock, it could be a problem with feed or water, or it can be some diseases too, which cause poor health and so harms shell production.

We need more info though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what would lay eggs on a shell. Do you collect the eggs every evening or do the eggs stay in the nests overnight? A photo would help if you can, but have you checked for mites? I don't think it would be lice, but there are many different kinds of mites. It might be time to treat the nest area even if you can't see them. I'll admit, I don't know of any mite that would lay eggs on an eggshell.

 

[andredoep]

Thanks for the reply - I areally appreciate it. I tried to take a photo but the camera can't focus that close. It positively is tiny eggs and not eggshell roughness unfortunately. The tiny eggs rub off and they are all similar size and form, and mostly layed together on the eggshell, sometimes different spots. I don't have it every day and most of the times only a single egg at a time. It is very puzzling and I hope not serious since we are selling the eggs and subsequently had to stop pending a solution to the problem. Any help will be immensely appreciated. THANKS. Andre.

 

[justusnak]

This is puzzling...however...I would check your hens out really well...see if they have mites..usually concentrated around the vent area. See if the "eggs" from the mites are coming from your chickens vent area, and depositing on the newly laid egg. While the egg is wet...if the mite eggs come from the chickens...they will "set" onto the chicken egg shell. Good luck with this. I hope you find a solution soon!

 

[andredoep]

Thanks for all the advice - I sincerely appreciate it. Andre.

 

[Chickenfortress]

I seriously doubt they are eggs of anything. If they seem to be made of shell, it's because they are. I have a girl who lays her eggs rather rough. The rough bits take the form of dozens to a hundred tiny rough balls clustered on the eggshell. Typically they appear on the round end and one or two spots on other areas of the shell. They knock off, sometimes with a bit of effort. To definitively decide if yours are eggs try crushing a few and look for liquid inside.

 

[farrier!]

For web pictures you do not have to be really close. Go the distance to focus then crop the picture down. The quality should still be there for a good web pic!

 

[Jenski]

Are you finding any of these little things in your birds' droppings? The description almost sounds like evidence of tapeworm, but I have never heard of the eggs/segments coming off on hen eggs - - only in the droppings.

Please keep us posted!

 

[andredoep]

Sounds like Chickenfortress is right - we scraped it off and looked at it under the microscope with disecting tools and tried to break it. Mostly the "egg" would spin off because it's so hard. A few did break and had no soft tissue inside and resembled mostly the qualties of the eggshell itself i.e. hard and breaking in fragments. With the visible eye It sure looked like hundreds of tiny "bug" eggs, all the same size, laid together in one location. So I think Sherlock solved the mistery with the aid of a few helpers - thanks for all the help. Andre