Really Weird Eggs

[Susan Dye]

The other day I found an egg in the nest that looked like a hen had pecked a hole in it. No biggie, I thought. It did not penetrate the membrane, looked fine when I cracked it open. So, I used it, no problem. Then yesterday I found another one with a hole in it and what looked like a "wick" sticking out of the hole. Did not eat that one. Then again today another one. Membrane still intact on these two also. All the girls are eating and drinking fine. No one is behaving strange. They have crushed shell available. I did recently change their food. They kept eating all the grower feed I had out for the pullets, so I switched to all flock in two of the three feeders. The third feeder still has layer pellets, their original food. Not sure which hen is laying these eggs. Thoughts anyone?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

New layers or old layers, hiccup would be my first guess.

Here is great article with many causes off egg conditions...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

Almost all of them say disease. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

Were they found in the same box or different boxes? Are they close to each other in size? Pullet size or hen size? How old your pullets, and the hens?

 

[Susan Dye]

New layers or old layers, hiccup would be my first guess.

Here is great article with many causes off egg conditions...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

Almost all of them say disease. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.

Were they found in the same box or different boxes? Are they close to each other in size? Pullet size or hen size? How old your pullets, and the hens?

I have 3 nest boxes and 6 hens. All 6 hens are only about a year and a half old. Don't recall which nest the eggs were in. They all tend to set in whatever nest is available or their preference on that particular day. The pullets are 12 wks old and have not yet gone into the hen house. I will check out the article. Thanks for the link. They are both the same size (large).

 

[Criticalicious]

If you made changes like adding new chickens (or changing feed), sometimes they feel stressed out and then you can get these soft weird looking eggs. I had a few of these about two months ago when I switched my pullets to a new coop and then added newbies. After things settled down a bit, the laying went back to normal again.

 

[Susan Dye]

If you made changes like adding new chickens (or changing feed), sometimes they feel stressed out and then you can get these soft weird looking eggs. I had a few of these about two months ago when I switched my pullets to a new coop and then added newbies. After things settled down a bit, the laying went back to normal again.

The pullets have been around for a couple of months and allowed to free range with the hens during the day for about 4 wks now. After reading the article on here about misshaped eggs, eggs with holes were listed, but the causes did not seem to apply. Wish I could figure out which hen is laying them. Between the first and second egg, there was a very soft shelled egg laid where the egg matter was in the box and what there was of a shell was just outside the box. Looked like the egg came out minus the shell, then when she got up to leave, the shell was expelled. Also, the one today, the hole was facing down in the nest and when I went to pick it up, there was a bit of soft shell, still wet, sticking to the egg. Very weird. Hoping whichever one it is does get back to normal just so I know she's not any serious trouble.

 

[Kiki]

What breeds do you have?

I'm not so sure this will 'go back to normal.'
I'm thinking you are seeing the beginning of a reproductive problem.

 

[GC-Raptor]

When the Hens started eating the Starter Grower feed, they aren't getting enough Calcium and don't eat the Oyster Shells, because they didn't have to when they were eating the Layers feed. Try tossing some Oyster Shells on the ground with Scratch Grains. I don't feed a Layers feed. I feed a Non-medicated Starter Grower or a All-Flock/Flock Raiser to my hens and Pullets. I mix Oyster Shells in Scratch Grains. 10 ounces Shells to 25 pounds of Scratch. I also offer Oyster Shells separately. . Hopefully she will figure out she needs to consume the Shells. GC

 

[Susan Dye]

What breeds do you have?

I'm not so sure this will 'go back to normal.'
I'm thinking you are seeing the beginning of a reproductive problem.

I have a sex link (don't think it's her), a BO, a RIR, a lavender orpington, and two mixed breeds (definitely not one of them). So, I can eliminate only 2. The sex link lays a dark egg which is easily identified and one of the mixed breed layed her late this evening hours after I found the weird one. When I found the weird one today, there was one egg in each of the three nesting boxes. I'm inclined to think it might not be temporary either since we're talking 4 days in succession.

 

[aart]

Shell gland glitch....could be temporary or not.
Put out some OS for sure, that could be the issue.
Don't use ACV in water.

 

[Susan Dye]

Shell gland glitch....could be temporary or not.
Put out some OS for sure, that could be the issue.
Don't use ACV in water.

Thanks aart. Have/had os out at all times. Had ACV in water, but had changed the water out 3 days ago minus the ACV. Not that I thought I should, just didn't have any on hand. But, I'll be sure to leave it out. I'm trying to keep tract of who on which nest when to determine which hen has the problem. If it was a once in a blue moon thing, I wouldn't be concerned, but 4 days running is troubling.