Premature Egg?

[Chicken Boss]

We have 5 hens that are all 18-22 weeks old, 2 of which are laying and the others seem very close as they are squatting and have red cones, etc. I found this in the bottom of their coop this morning when I was scooping poop. It wasnt in the nesting box, but was on the bottom of the coop floor with the poo. Is it simply a premature egg? Its very soft and as you can see, very small.
Is this normal? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[MelanieR]

maybe some lady's first egg?

 

[Chicken Boss]

Its definitely an egg, but is it normal? I've seen posts on BYC about small, soft eggs, just wasnt expecting it to be sooo small? The two that have been laying for a couple weeks started out with smaller eggs and they are gradually getting bigger and are hard, but this one is tiny and very soft. We are new to this, so I just want to make sure its normal
Thanks MelanieR

 

[crchickens]

We had a couple of those early on too. It is a shell-less egg. It is not unusual. You will find that the girls lay very small eggs to begin with, but ours are getting bigger and bigger with time.

 

[terryg]

Absolutely normal for a first egg! Sometimes called a "wind egg." It probably doesn't have a yolk. The conveyor belt that the egg is made on just isn't working on all pistons yet I save wind eggs. Let it sit out and it will last forever (unlike the big eggs that if they sit out too long will be really nasty if they break.)
For more about how eggs are made read this: http://hencam.com/henblog/2012/02/brown-green-blue-white-chicken-egg-color-the-real-story/

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Congrats! I got one of those this morning, too. My last pullet - who has been dragging her feet to lay as her sister's been laying for three weeks - is finally getting her act together. Mine was a bit larger with a rubbery shell and didn't appear to have any yolk. I found it broken by the pop door. Her sister did pretty much the same thing about 2 days before she began to lay.

The Good News = You and I are going to be eating eggs real soon!

 

[mickey328]

I had a similar one yesterday but our girls have been laying regularly since May. Ours seems to have a very thick shell...haven't cracked it yet, but will be interested to see what's in it. We have 6 hens and got 4 and a half eggs! LOL

 

[Chicken Boss]

Thanks for all of the info folks. Out of curiosity, my son and I cut the little egg open last night and it did have a yolk inside. My daughter thought it was cute and wanted to fry it!! We saved it for a little while and then disposed of it.

 

[Rhoise]

We have 5 hens that are all 18-22 weeks old, 2 of which are laying and the others seem very close as they are squatting and have red cones, etc. I found this in the bottom of their coop this morning when I was scooping poop. It wasnt in the nesting box, but was on the bottom of the coop floor with the poo. Is it simply a premature egg? Its very soft and as you can see, very small.
Is this normal? Thanks in advance for any help.

Neato! Some of my girls just started laying and we are getting alot of weird eggs but within a few days they get normal,regular, and bigger. I wish I had enjoyed them more instead of being "freaked out" about them, folks assured me they are part of the normal process of getting started, and they were correct!