Small eggs with strange yolk

[emma16]

Hi,

One of my hens has been laying very small eggs the past few days. They're about the size of a pigeon egg. Their yolks look very strange. As if their membrane is not intact and the yolk got mixed with the egg white, or something.

I don't know what to think of this. I've attached some pics. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Emma

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC...good post!
Not sure of an answer tho....could disease or something they are eating.
More info would help:
How old are birds and how long have they been laying?
What is your climate? Putting location in profile is a good idea.
What and how exactly are you feeding?
Do they free range?

Scroll way down to 'yolk quality':
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/common-egg-quality-problems.65923/

 

[emma16]

Thanks, Aart. I researched the web before posting here, but I haven't seen any pics of yolks that look like this. The link that you provided also doesn't provide any, unfortunately.

"How old are birds and how long have they been laying?"
I have a flock of nearly 30. Some of the chickens have been with us for a loooong time, I don't even know how old they are because they were adopted.
The oldest ones sometimes lay a few eggs in spring.
The rest is 3 years or younger. They are fairly regular layers and a few of them have been broody unsuccessfully up to e couple of weeks ago.
There are also 10 chicks in the ages of 10 - 12 weeks (do I still call the chicks at that age?).

"What is your climate?"
Our climate is temperate, with temperatures between 20-25 degrees Celsius in the past weeks.

"What and how exactly are you feeding?"
I feed them layer feed inside their coop, but they forage for most of their diet. They also get some scratch each day. I feed them kitchen scraps when available, like stale bread, rice, veg, fruit, etc. Nothing too greasy/spicy/salty. They are completely free-range.

Hope this helps clarify!

 

[Leighe]

Hi,

One of my hens has been laying very small eggs the past few days. They're about the size of a pigeon egg. Their yolks look very strange. As if their membrane is not intact and the yolk got mixed with the egg white, or something.

I don't know what to think of this. I've attached some pics. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Emma

View attachment 1102027 View attachment 1102028 View attachment 1102029 View attachment 1102030

I'm gonna follow this post cause I wanna know what's goin on there. Weird lookin...Thanks for posting and showing pics. Helps the rest of us to learn.

 

[aart]

The link that you provided also doesn't provide any, unfortunately.

I thought #3 mottled yolks under yolk quality pretty much matched your yolks:

"What and how exactly are you feeding?"
I feed them layer feed inside their coop, but they forage for most of their diet. They also get some scratch each day. I feed them kitchen scraps when available, like stale bread, rice, veg, fruit, etc. Nothing too greasy/spicy/salty. They are completely free-range.

Could be something out in the range area, hard to rule it out unless you can isolate the birds laying these yolks to observe their overall health and their input/output.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

The reasons for the poor eggs could be a number of things as aart said.

My thinking is that it could be from age. Older hens begin to shut down their laying cycle and can give tiny eggs, often without any yolk, colloquially called "rooster eggs" or "fairy eggs."

The poor yolk quality could be from age or from disease or from nutrition.

Newcastle disease comes to mind first as does Infectious Bronchitis, but somebody should be showing some signs of illness...standing a bit ruffled, sniffling, sneezing.

If you can, see if you can't figure out who is laying those eggs. You likely will have to pen some gals up to figure it out.

That way you can figure out if it is old age or disease or even nutrition.

My thoughts.
Lofmc

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Here's my favorite site for checking reasons for poor egg quality. I linked the particular section for mottled yolks:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...dbook/32/mottled-yolks-and-discoloured-yolks/

 

[emma16]

I thought #3 mottled yolks under yolk quality pretty much matched your yolks:

I can see how they resemble mottled yolks, but I've had eggs with mottled yolks before (from an old hen) and that isn't quite the problem here. Plus, the eggs are really small. I think fairy/rooster eggs might be it.

I was wondering: Could it be that a yolk broke inside the oviduct and that it is now being discarded in several small eggs?

 

[emma16]

If you can, see if you can't figure out who is laying those eggs. You likely will have to pen some gals up to figure it out.

I will definitely watch them closely whenever I can. I could also make an extra temporary pen. Thanks.