Small egg, even stranger on the inside.... anyone seen this before?

[goonius]

I have an Ameraucana/Leghorn mix who has been laying for two or three months. The other day she laid a really tiny egg. After reading about it, I boiled it along with some others. Glad I ate the others before I looked at this one... eww. It's nasty grey colored and the white has texture to it. It went in the trash, but I wondered: has anyone else encountered this before? I'm a little grossed out.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I occasionally find gunk in my eggs. It's kinda normal, and usually it's bits of oviduct lining. I'm glad you didn't eat it either. Stuff like that will keep me from eating eggs for a while.

 

[goonius]

It's funny, but when she first laid it I was creeped out. But then a few days went by and her laying went back to normal. So today I told myself I was just being silly.

Might be awhile before I want another one of her eggs. But it is a relief to know it's in the realm of "normal."

 

[N F C]

All kinds of odd things can happen with eggs, you might want to look at this article for some examples:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

I don't recall seeing anything exactly like what your egg looks like, but I wouldn't have wanted to eat it either

Glad your girl is back to laying "normal" eggs!

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

I always wonder what those would look like if it was broken open raw rather than hard boiled.
Did you take pic before cooking it?

Eggs like that have me opening them in a separate dish one at time rather than into pan or recipe for quite awhile.

Funky eggs happen, usually a one off glitch, if happens regularly there may be a problem.

Have you seen this thread?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/697007/weird-or-odd-eggs-pics

 

[goonius]

Thanks for the welcome aart! I do wish I had opened the egg in a dish rather than hard boiling it. I guess I was going on the mistaken assumption that it was normal, just stunted. It was about 1/2 - 2/3 the size of her normal eggs. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll open it up in a dish uncooked for sure.

I will say that she did seem to be in the initial stages of her first molt and had a very pale comb for a couple of days when she laid the egg. She has since regained her red comb and is back to her regular daily egg. But maybe she was off because of molting, and that's what produced that gross egg? I'll update if she has any other unpleasant offerings.

 

[aart]

Thanks for the welcome aart! I do wish I had opened the egg in a dish rather than hard boiling it. I guess I was going on the mistaken assumption that it was normal, just stunted. It was about 1/2 - 2/3 the size of her normal eggs. Next time (if there is a next time) I'll open it up in a dish uncooked for sure.

I will say that she did seem to be in the initial stages of her first molt and had a very pale comb for a couple of days when she laid the egg. She has since regained her red comb and is back to her regular daily egg. But maybe she was off because of molting, and that's what produced that gross egg? I'll update if she has any other unpleasant offerings.

Hard to say what caused it....funky eggs going into, or coming out of, a molt is not unusual.