Strange Egg Shell Structure - Has Anyone Seen This Before?

[HoopyFrood]

Our alpha, Charley (barred Plymouth rock), is now about 13 months old and has been laying reliably for the past 8 months (minus a one month break in the dead of the harsh winter) with no egg issues to speak of (a few occasional meat spots, but that rarely happens any more).

A couple of weeks ago our road got grated and it REALLY stressed the girls out. All but two of the flock took a day off laying immediately following the grating. The other two (including Charley) laid rubber eggs - that is the first time we have EVER had rubber eggs.

After that they all started laying normally again. But after about a week of normal egg laying Charley start laying eggs that were otherwise normal but always have the same "defect" on the bottom end of the egg. Please see the attached pics. They are in chronological order. It started subtle, peaked on day 3, started to get better, then got worse again from day 5 on. She took a day off between eggs 5 and 6. Today was egg 7 and it looks like day 5 (getting "better").

The lines look like "body checks" but they are in exactly the same place on each egg and she is perfectly happy and healthy otherwise. No physical stress or trauma. The pigment spots are rough textured like too much calcium, but they are always a combination of rough texture and pigment spots and again always in the same area on the eggs' bottoms.

They are on layer feed, 18% protein, about 4% calcium. They do have access to free-choice crushed oyster shell, which is unnecessary. But they've taken to leaving it alone most of the time and we don't see calcium deposits on eggshells hardly at all.


Since she's otherwise normal (and the eggs are perfectly edible) we are not too concerned. But for all my looking into egg defects I have not come across anything like this. My sweetie's mom kept chickens for many years and she had never seen anything like it either.

Any ideas out there? Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I find a layer ration sometimes is too much calcium for some hens and they will have calcium deposits from it. The wrinkles do look like body checks, often caused by disturbances and stress. Perhaps the road grating caused her to be more nervous about sounds, and noises.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I'm not sure... It was surprisingly stressful for them. It happened last year and they were perturbed, but they weren't laying yet, so I don't have a "benchmark."

I have read this morning that temperature extremes can cause stress. We have been in the midst of manic temperature swings the past couple weeks. From warm to shockingly cold, to instant hot and humid, to downright frigid (had frost yesterday morning).

They have definitely been repeatedly stressed by the weather. We've done everything we can to make them comfortable in these repeated swings of extremes - but there's a limit to what we can do, obviously.

She laid a rubber egg this morning and one of the others laid from the roost (something she has NEVER done).

So I hope all this points to weather-related stress. But if anyone has any other thoughts I'm all ears!

 

[HoopyFrood]

Update: The egg today is looking better, less "body check" like structures - though there are pigment streaks where they were.

We just learned one of the weeds they eat a lot of (and we have been unwittingly feeding them on days when we can't let them out of their secure area) is sheep's sorrel. Very high in oxalic acid, like spinach and rhubarb leaves...

So we are NOT going to be giving them any more of that. No doubt they will snack on some when they are out on walks, but they at least won't have us supplementing that anymore...

 

[aart]

Is it the oxalic acid that can deter the uptake and/or application of calcium?
Have read that about spinach.
Time will tell with your girl.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Is it the oxalic acid that can deter the uptake and/or application of calcium?
Have read that about spinach.
Time will tell with your girl.

Yes, indeed... and it also impacts the kidneys. When it's reduced it combines with available calcium to produce calcium oxalate - the primary component of kidney stones.

She (and the others) seem quite happy and normal. We will continue to monitor and I'll update this thread with appropriate info.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Update:
On the 7th we removed the sheep's sorrel from where they could eat it in their run. We also began to actively limit how much they could eat on their supervised walks by shooing them away from it. They had been eating a LOT of it.

June 8th, she laid ANOTHER rubber egg. It was laid uncharacteristically early in the nest box before the others were even up. This gave us a little cause for concern but there was not much we could do apart from keep her away from eating anything with oxalic acid. This was a transition into hot weather. We began our eviction of sheep's sorrel all around the garden areas where it was proliferating and going to seed. It would take us one week to finish that effort...

9th was a laying day off which was ambiguous. The heat stayed on... the 10th she laid again and the egg was MUCH better. No calcium deposits. The day after, even better, no deposits and no body checking (or whatever) marks.

Yesterday we FINALLY finished the sheep's sorrel eviction. This is going to be an ongoing effort. But all of her eggs since look much more normal. They still have the pigment marks and sometimes very slight "checks". But overall they're looking quite good and they have had to endure some pretty sweltering weather.

All seem healthy and happy enough to complain anytime things aren't 100% to their liking - usually the weather. Life with chickens...

So since she's doing well and things seem to be normalizing I'll call this thread done. I'll update the thread if anything changes, of course, for posterity's sake

 

[HenniesInMyHeart]

So relieved she's doing better! Please do keep us updated!

 

[aart]

Great update post @HoopyFrood!
Glad you are seeing some success.
Please do update in the future, good or bad, for posterity.
It will be a great reference thread.

 

[HoopyFrood]

FINAL UPDATE - Mystery Effectively Solved!

This is one of two threads that must be closed with a conclusion I am reasonably confident in, although exact scientific evidence is not available

Charley's problem worsened over the few more weeks after my last post to the point she wouldn't lay much at all. When she did it was often rubber eggs. She also declined in general health becoming more lethargic. It was so gradual we didn't realize the degree to which she was affected until after she recovered.

On an unrelated matter we replaced their outdoor waterer. Within two days Charley was laying almost perfectly sound eggs! Within four days her eggs were perfect and her demeanor was back to her vivacious self! We didn't realize how ill she had been until after her recovery... We then felt horrible for inflicting the problem on her for so long: their old outdoor waterer!

The other thread similarly effected (found here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...erwise-seems-normal-possible-problem.1231772/) was one of chronic diarrhea in another of our hens, Holly. When we changed the waterer her diarrhea vanished inside of two days.

We have now been running with a couple different, new outdoor waterers for over four months and there has been ZERO sign of either condition in that time. So while I don't have chemical analyses to go off of, I'm pretty confident we can point to that old waterer (a plastic #1 PET bottle that was degrading) as the acute cause of the illnesseses.

Details of the waterer information and possible health concerns can be found in my summary thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ater-bottles-dont-repeat-our-mistake.1281594/