Puzzling egg

[City Farmer Jim]

I have a question for the great minds here...I neglected collect eggs Monday night, so Tuesday evening I went to collect eggs from our 7 of 8 laying hens i collected 11 and a half eggs ...a half you say ..how is that possible. When I collected them there was what looked like a quail size egg..its brown like the rest. Is it possible that a bird could have laid it or is that a "normal" thingtohappen? The coop door is always open. We had a small bantam size egg when our only hen melted this fall, no hens are molting visibly at this time.

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

It was probably a fairy egg. I have it happen sometimes, too.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

Its simply an egg without a yolk

 

[City Farmer Jim]

Is it a lack of something that causes a no yolk egg? Lack of something in the diet, stress or ? ?

 

[aart]

Is it a lack of something that causes a no yolk egg? Lack of something in the diet, stress or ? ?

Most often just a one off glitch.
Open it up and see what's inside.

Fairy, fart, wind, rooster eggs are usually from a tiny piece of tissue breaking loose from the reproductive tract, or an immature ova(yolk) and the body forms an egg around it. Color can be darker than 'normal' as the pigment coating released has to cover a much smaller area so is thicker. Can happen with any age layer, but more common with older layers.

I think it's explained in this excellent video, which is worth watching regardless:

 

[Rebbiereb]

If they hatch will you have more fairies on your property!? I love the thought of it. We are in the woods and if I ever have time I would like to build a fairy house or two.

 

[GC-Raptor]

When I collected them there was what looked like a quail size egg..its brown like the rest. Is it possible that a bird could have laid it or is that a "normal"

I got a small egg from my Red sex-links (11 months old) a few weeks ago.

A one off thing. This is what was inside.

A tiny yolk. Speck is a piece of shell.
Eggs have been fine since. GC