Sandpaper eggs 2 days in a row...

[rain0124]

My golden sex-link (4 1/2 months old) hen has been laying for a couple of weeks now. Today makes her tenth egg. She has laid for me every day since she started except for two days, including yesterday. Today her egg looks and feels way different than all the other eggs she has laid. It is lighter colored - I know that can be attributed to a larger shell as she ages but this is much lighter, almost white in areas, and the egg isn't really much if at all bigger and the pictures do not portray the difference adequately. Also this egg feels very different than the others. The texture is rough and looks like it has spores with speckles, not smooth to the touch like the others. Could this be because she skipped a day yesterday? - even though last time she skipped a day, there was no difference in the egg. Could it be something she ate - change in diet? I also have a barred rock and a production red who aren't laying yet (4 months old) and it would surprise me if it were one of them, though I know barred rocks do lay lighter brown eggs. I'll have to post a picture of them for you to see. They aren't as developed as my golden sex-link. I'm not worried about the quality of the egg, I'm sure it is fine to eat, just curious about the reasons why if possible to speculate...Thanks

 

[rain0124]

Its almost as if it's covered in a light colored powder that won't come off. The shell doesn't seem any thinner than the others just different texture. I wonder if this has anything to do with calcium?

 

[rain0124]

I got another sandpaper egg this morning from her that was even lighter colored than yesterday almost no pigment at all and it was rough feeling like yesterday's egg too. Today it was somewhat flattened on one side and had wrinkles in it too. So now I'm worried this is an on-going thing. I hope its just stress and that I can easily fix whatever the stressful situation is soon and hopefully its not something more serious. I'm concerned because all her other eggs were perfect. I try to keep everyone informed about what I find out and when this ends. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[aart]

It could be one of your other pullets started laying....or it could just be a glitch in the first pullets egg machine.
Young layers often have funky eggs as they tune up the machine.....it could be caused by stress, obvious or not so obvious.
There are often variations in homegrown eggs, even with adult layers. Usually it's not something to be worried about.

I've had many an egg like the last one pictured, it can last awhile but eventually straightens out.

Take a look at this thread on weird and odd eggs.

 

[rain0124]

Wow! what a neat thread Aart! I really enjoyed looking at all the weird eggs. It makes me feel better that you have had eggs like this and it goes away. I have my third weird egg in a row today (picture attached). I really wish it was one of my other pullet's eggs but I have still been getting only one a day so that would mean my only layer stopped laying. What was the longest time frame one of your chickens went laying weird eggs before it went back to normal and did you do anything special to help? I guess the reason I was worried is because her first 9 eggs were perfect and all about the same. Now these three seem to be coated with something thick. I can tell on today's egg because part of it looks normal (a little circular area that is thinner and darker than the rest of the egg.) She has also laid all three of these in the middle of the night as opposed to noon-ish like she did all her other eggs...I wonder if that has something to do with it?

 

[aart]

My crinkly egg layers did that for a month or two over the winter, they were both in some stage of molt and I was using supplemental light so both those things could have had something to do with it....have had some like your last post also...I think they both have something to do with how the shell is formed and could be caused by a myriad of things from nutrition to stress to illness or a combo of things. And they were at times laid at night on the roost board....they were often thin shelled and if they got stepped on they usually got eaten up by the birds.

I didn't do anything about either of them because I couldn't pinpoint a cause and believe that if you can't find the true source of a problem, you can't really effect a solution.
Neither bird appeared ill and were receiving proper nutrition, so I just chalked it up to an anomaly and didn't worry about it. I ate those eggs and sold the prettier ones.

I learned by reading that thread, and then from my own experience, that there are often funky eggs in parts of life that doesn't administer an inspection/filtering process.

 

[sumi]

Sometimes odd eggs are simply a glitch in the hen's reproductive system, but sometimes they are a sign that something's wrong. More info here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems