Scratchy Marks on End of Egg?

[ClareScifi]

Has anyone ever had a chicken lay eggs that appear to be slightly scratched at the ends, with a few minor scratch marks about a 1/2" or so long? What could cause this? My chicken has laid 2 of these now. One on Tuesday, and one today. She didn't lay yesterday.

Thanks in advance,

Clare

 

[Fred's Hens]

They roll them around with their beaks and it scratches some of them.

 

[ClareScifi]

Really? How come I've never noticed it before, I wonder?

That does make me feel a bit better. I did see her rolling the eggs around under her the other day when the one was scratched, but the other was perfectly smooth.

That would be wonderful if that is all it is. I will go now and inspect all of the eggs I've been saving and see if there might have been some earlier ones like this. I'm super vigilant this last week or so since the pasty butt episode, so maybe I just didn't notice earlier.

Thanks so much for your response.

 

[ClareScifi]

Well, that was helpful. I inspected 18 eggs from a few weeks ago, and they do seem rather scratchy on the ends, so this must have been going on for some time. Thanks for the helpful tip. I had no idea.

 

[AKsmama]

When the egg is freshly laid and the bloom is still wet, they'll get scratched up if they roll them around before it dries. No biggie! I get several a week like that and think it's especially noticeable in the darker colored eggs.

 

[ClareScifi]

Good to know! Thanks, Aksmama.

I just went out and found 2 perfect eggs, still warm and lovely, very dark shelled, both laid by the same chicken, I think.

This is a relief to me, because I was afraid she was deficient in calcium, but if she can lay two eggs in a row, both with perfect shells, that is a very good sign?

A woman suggested I feed them a bit of ground flax to help eliminate any sandpaperishness to the shell, and sure enough, 2 days in to feeding flax to them, the eggs are perfect again! I had gotten one a couple of days ago that was a bit rough on the end (not the scratched type, but a bit bumpy and perhaps brittle), and the flax really did seem to help get rid of that. Or maybe it was the kale I started giving them (calcium in it)? Or the combination. Whatever, it was, it worked! I'm sure the free-ranging didn't hurt, either.

Clare