Hey All, Quick Question...So I have five hens who are all happy, healthy, and have been laying steady for about 4 months. I get anywhere between 3-5 eggs a day. Anyways, today I went to harvest some eggs, and there were small red freckles on the outside of two of the eggs. This isn't uncommon, as I know some eggs are freckled, but what was strange is that these freckles washed off when I rinsed the eggs inside? Why is that? What was this residue? Is that normal to have on eggs? I have searched the forum and haven't found an answer. Hopefully somebody knows? Thanks!
Could it be dirt from a dust bath? If they had just had a dust bath, then came in to lay, you can sometimes get dirt residue on the eggs. Eggs are wet when laid (due to the bloom) so touching the feathers on the way out can get some stuff on it.
Most of my eggs have a pastel like appearance and have no wet or slime on them after they are laid. I don't think it is calcium build-up because it washes off. It could very well be the bloom of the egg because it washed off with some good scrubbing. The red coloration was very strange too, but the eggs seemed fine.
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