Soft shell egg full of blood

[Curlyginger]

This morning, when I went to let the chickens out, I noticed the hens were behaving oddly - running from the run to coop. Went around and opened up the coop to find something very, very odd. Someone had laid a soft shell egg. The shell was crushed and to one side and the contents were off to another. That's not the weird part. The inside portion of the egg seemed to be full (and I mean really full) of blood. There was a pile of it to one side. On top of the nesting boxes, there was a big splash of egg-whitey blood (also from the egg, I assume). I didn't take any photos, as I had to wrestle the hens off it (evidently it was delicious).

I cleaned it up and checked the girls over. All 5 of them laid yesterday and there are no signs as to who laid this one (the soft shell was grey, not brown or blue like the regular eggs are). The girls are all just under a year and have been laying for awhile. Everyone is acting fine. They were fed Countryside Organic Layer pellets, but I recently moved them over to Poulin Layer Pellets for cost reasons (a few weeks ago). They are offered oyster shell and grit on the side.

I'm not worried about the soft egg (I know it happens sometimes). I am worried about the blood. It was a LOT of blood inside there. Should I be worried about this? If so, what could be the problem? This is my first flock, so any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Eggcessive]

This link may help you, but I had a hen who layed eggs with bloody yolks most times for 6 months and then quit laying permanently. I figured it was something wrong in her reproductive system. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/common-egg-quality-problems

 

[Curlyginger]

Well, I pretty much narrowed it down to my EE, as she is the only one who didn't lay yesterday or today. She's my only blue egg layer, so it is easy to tell. Any have any ideas?

 

[dinkbradders]

This morning, when I went to let the chickens out, I noticed the hens were behaving oddly - running from the run to coop. Went around and opened up the coop to find something very, very odd. Someone had laid a soft shell egg. The shell was crushed and to one side and the contents were off to another. That's not the weird part. The inside portion of the egg seemed to be full (and I mean really full) of blood. There was a pile of it to one side. On top of the nesting boxes, there was a big splash of egg-whitey blood (also from the egg, I assume). I didn't take any photos, as I had to wrestle the hens off it (evidently it was delicious).

I cleaned it up and checked the girls over. All 5 of them laid yesterday and there are no signs as to who laid this one (the soft shell was grey, not brown or blue like the regular eggs are). The girls are all just under a year and have been laying for awhile. Everyone is acting fine. They were fed Countryside Organic Layer pellets, but I recently moved them over to Poulin Layer Pellets for cost reasons (a few weeks ago). They are offered oyster shell and grit on the side.

I'm not worried about the soft egg (I know it happens sometimes). I am worried about the blood. It was a LOT of blood inside there. Should I be worried about this? If so, what could be the problem? This is my first flock, so any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Sorry to bring up an old thread but did you ever find out the issue? or did it keep happening? We just had the same and have 2 older (3 years old) and 4 youngsters that have laid for 6 weeks fine) but not sure which laid it yet. Thx Chris

 

[dawg53]

It could be a prolapsed oviduct, scroll down in this link:
https://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/WeirdEggs/WeirdEggs.html