I've had hens for only 10 years. But I've cycled through 22 chickens of various breeds. We had one Silkie that from her very first pullet egg until her last adult egg she cried loudly and was more agitated than other hens when it came time for her to lay EACH egg during her 6 years of life. In her 6th year she really shouldn't have been laying eggs since Silies' laying life usually stops at 5 years like our other Silkie hen.
In her 6th year of laying our crying Silkie layed a peewee egg and I didn't think much of it since I was told it was not unusual. But later in that same year she layed a giant rock hard dark greyish egg and a week later another large dark greyish egg was stuck to her vent and we rushed her to our poultry vet. Upon examination he found the egg was still stuck to her bleeding ovarian tumor and we had to put her down. It was so heartbreaking because she was such a spunky sweet thing (except on days she layed eggs). She was a very prolific layer for a Silkie. That same year we also had to put down an ailing Ameraucana hen whose illness caused her to stop laying altogether for several weeks.
Subsequently we acquired 3 Dominique chicks -- 2 of the girls were very prolific layers -- we lost one at 1 years old and the 2nd at 2 years old -- They started laying a month earlier than the 3rd Dominique and continued laying months after the 3rd Dominique stopped. The two Dominiques we lost also had a dark spot in their yolks -- EVERY one of their eggs! The 3rd Dominique is still living at 3-1/2 years and not as prolific a layer as the other two Dominiques but she's doing well.
Leghorns are very prolific layers too and 45% develop reproductive issues -- as a result the industry has monitored Leghorns for cancer research.
It may be nothing but from my limited experience with our 22 birds I can't help concluding that weird eggs and/or agitated behavior is a signal of reproductive issues. And the hens I've had with agitated behavior or weird egg issues eventually passed away too soon.
I suppose unusual behavior or odd eggs can happen on occasion but I tense up if I see those issues in any of my girls. Any time we acquire a new pullet I monitor her behavior for laying problems. Many of my hens that had broody tendencies layed less eggs but they also had longer lives. As a result I've since avoided production-type breeds in favor of breeds that have broody tendencies. Seems like the broody time gives the hen time to replenish her body's nutrients and seems a bit more of what is natural for chickens to do. It's production farming that's bred the "broody" out of chickens to force the little sweeties to be manufacturing tools instead of being just plain normal hens.
JMHO and not meant to offend anyone. Since having hens as pets more than for egg productivity we've made a personal choice to shy away from production breeds to hopefully lessen future health issues.
In her 6th year of laying our crying Silkie layed a peewee egg and I didn't think much of it since I was told it was not unusual. But later in that same year she layed a giant rock hard dark greyish egg and a week later another large dark greyish egg was stuck to her vent and we rushed her to our poultry vet. Upon examination he found the egg was still stuck to her bleeding ovarian tumor and we had to put her down. It was so heartbreaking because she was such a spunky sweet thing (except on days she layed eggs). She was a very prolific layer for a Silkie. That same year we also had to put down an ailing Ameraucana hen whose illness caused her to stop laying altogether for several weeks.
Subsequently we acquired 3 Dominique chicks -- 2 of the girls were very prolific layers -- we lost one at 1 years old and the 2nd at 2 years old -- They started laying a month earlier than the 3rd Dominique and continued laying months after the 3rd Dominique stopped. The two Dominiques we lost also had a dark spot in their yolks -- EVERY one of their eggs! The 3rd Dominique is still living at 3-1/2 years and not as prolific a layer as the other two Dominiques but she's doing well.
Leghorns are very prolific layers too and 45% develop reproductive issues -- as a result the industry has monitored Leghorns for cancer research.
It may be nothing but from my limited experience with our 22 birds I can't help concluding that weird eggs and/or agitated behavior is a signal of reproductive issues. And the hens I've had with agitated behavior or weird egg issues eventually passed away too soon.
I suppose unusual behavior or odd eggs can happen on occasion but I tense up if I see those issues in any of my girls. Any time we acquire a new pullet I monitor her behavior for laying problems. Many of my hens that had broody tendencies layed less eggs but they also had longer lives. As a result I've since avoided production-type breeds in favor of breeds that have broody tendencies. Seems like the broody time gives the hen time to replenish her body's nutrients and seems a bit more of what is natural for chickens to do. It's production farming that's bred the "broody" out of chickens to force the little sweeties to be manufacturing tools instead of being just plain normal hens.
JMHO and not meant to offend anyone. Since having hens as pets more than for egg productivity we've made a personal choice to shy away from production breeds to hopefully lessen future health issues.
