Sandpaper/Irregular Colored Shell

[KCNC06]

When I went out to check on the girls and collect eggs this afternoon I noticed one odd egg. The shell feels very similar to fine grain sandpaper and the color isn't even. It's a light brown egg (which leads me to believe it's our Barred Rock hen who started laying in mid-January this year) but there are white patches on it. This is the first time I've found an egg that feels this rough, I checked out this link: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/1/egg-quality-handbook/17/sandpaper-or-rough-shells but wanted to get a few opinions on whether or not I should/could assume that it's just a weird egg since she's relatively new to laying.

They have a red heat lamp on in the coop at night, but that's been in there for over a month so I don't think it's a lighting issue. Their water has been the same. The only thing that has changed lately is that I gave them dewormer last week. She's not sneezing or showing any symptoms of being sickly. I have noticed that her eggs aren't always the same size/shape. Sometimes they're a little more short and round than others. We give them crushed oyster shell mixed in with their feed, and her egg shells are usually quite strong, so I don't think it's a lack of calcium. I can try to get a picture tomorrow morning before I leave for work if that might help with guesses.

Thanks!

 

[cmom]

I have had eggs like that before. I only worm my birds if I see evidence of worms. I have used Wazine but there is an egg withdrawal period of two weeks. Now if I need to worm I use Verm-X. It's all natural and there is no eggs withdrawal period. After I used it I saw no worms.

http://verm-x.com

 

[gritsar]

Strange eggs happen from time to time and unless they occur regularly shouldn't be cause for concern.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I had some like that as well. They never hatch due to the shell malformation, but perfectly safe otherwise. I don't think it would be the wormer, I had them without using wormer. It's just like a soft shell or anything else....she's just trying to get it right and not quite there yet.

 

[augustmomx2]

I have noticed with my girls, that if they eat an excessive amount of BOSS, then their eggs tend to be "sandpaperish." Not sure about the color?

 

[nanawendy]

After BOSS huh??? That's curious, I've had a couple rough one after an EE furlough. I thought it was the "paint system" clogged up. But I've been giving a lot more BOSS these days since it started warming up

 

[KCNC06]

Quote:
I was also going with the "only worm if I see worms" thinking. Until last week when I saw two fairly good sized roundworms in one of my Seabright's poop and my EE got REALLY sick. Of course, it seems that the EE was really sick because of something other than worms (apparently wasn't absorbing nutrients properly for quite a while even though she was eating, because she was a walking skeleton up until she stopped walking...and eating and drinking....and eventually stopped living )

Anyway. I've been giving them DE mixed in with their food for months, but it apparently wasn't enough to prevent a worm infestation. I saw that Verm-X stuff last week while I was reading about different methods for deworming, and planned on ordering it. It's on one of my to-do lists in my cell phone right now actually.

Glad to know weird eggs are normal from time to time. I tend to be a little paranoid about my animals' health, but after losing my favorite hen on Monday I'm worse than I usually am!