Spotted Silkie egg?

[StorminStang06]

Hello fellow chicken lovers!

This is my first time with a backyard flock. I have three bantam silkie hens, age 9 months, and two khaki Campbell ducks age 3 months sharing the coop and run. I suspect the ducks are both female, but they don't have curled tails and are not laying yet. I have a small kiddie pool in the run for the ducks.

This AM during the morning rounds, I found a silkie egg with very small light brown spots on that rub off using a little pressure. They are all over the egg. This is not the first like this I've found, but I wasn't worried about it. Since it is continuing, I'm not sure if I should be worried about this or not. Could I have a sickness in my birds? I know birds hide sickness and mine are all acting their usual. Except the night or two one of the hens did not roost and instead laid where they all usually lay their eggs. That's where she was when I locked up last night and when I let them out this AM. Could she be sick? Are these eggs safe for human consumption?

Aside from that, and I don't know if this is pertinent or not, but I am finding ants in the coop and in the run where they have spilled their feed. I don't usually have feed in the coop, but they are crawling all over the doors. How can I keep them out of the coop?

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

 

[yinzerchick]

I have no idea about the spots on the egg...I don't have silkies. I have a couple ducks, but my female hasn't laid an egg yet. Did you break it open and take a look inside? Anything unusual? Sorry I can't be more helpful. Try doing a seach on this site and see if anything comes up.

As for the ants...I don't know. I don't have ants in the coop, but they're in the run. I've heard cinnamon, (ground and sprinkled liberally, I guess?) is a natural ant deterent, I'd try that first since it's not expensive and safe.

Good luck!

 

[realsis]

hi I have all silkies and mine has laid spotted eggs before! just last week. don't worry its just pigmentation of the eggs. all pigmentation can rub off even with there regular color pinkish brown. all eggs are white then pigments are added later by the body. take a fresh regular colored egg and scratch it you will notice the pigments scratch off to a white. mine has even laid all white before. its nothing to worry about. its just the pigmentation process. hope this helps best wishes.

 

[StorminStang06]

Thank you both for taking the time to read and respond to my question! I really appreciate it! I ended up carefully spraying the nesting box door for ants since there were too many to count. It only got on the door so the birds will not attempt to eat any that would have gotten into their bedding.

As for the egg, I was hoping and am relieved this isn't a problem. We've had a lot of rain which makes puddles and mud in the run that is very slippery when I walk on it and with ducks that thrive in that environment, it is hard to manage at times. I was hoping it wasn't making the chickens sick. Most of the time it is only damp where the kiddie pool is and under the hanging drinker. The chickens don't seem to mind it at all.

Thanks for the help!