Tiny groups of eggs(?) on egg shells? Anyone seen this?

[kristinahm]

Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me with this. One of my hens occasionally lays an egg with little "colonies" of pimples on the shell. I at first thought they were calcium deposits, then possibly groups of tiny eggs, but I've done tons of research online and can't find anything similar. The are hard, like egg shell, but flake off if I scratch them with my fingernail.

I don't think it's possible for worm eggs to be hard like these are, right?

I did find a few posts about pimples on eggs, but these are not the same. In fact in the photo you can see that this egg has shell colored pimples AND these weird lighter things.

My questions: What the heck is this? How do I get rid of it? And can I still eat these eggs?

 

[ems_chick]

egg buildup from the tract maybe?

im guessing they are safe though... dont see why not

 

[acbear93]

I have seen that only once on one of our eggs about 2 months ago...I wondered what that could be too...I scraped it off like you did, and never noticed anything wrong with the inside of the egg...I have had chickens for 6 years, and never saw anything like that before that one time, or since...I'd be interested in knowing too

 

[PotterWatch]

I remember seeing a post about something similar on this board many months ago. I think the only conclusion that was drawn was some kind of calcium deposit, but I can't remember for certain.

 

[Mahonri]

They do look like little calcium colonies don't they!

I think they are calcium deposits. I rub them off when I wash and put them in the fridge.

 

[PotterWatch]

This is a link to the other topic on this that I remembered. The picture isn't on there anymore but from what I can remember, it looked the same as what you have.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=78857


Guess I remembered wrong about most thinking it was calcium deposits. Most people on that thread thought it was some kind of moth eggs.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

I wouldn't worry about it. I have had them on my eggs, too. I have had it a couple of times on my brown eggs and once on a blue egg (just last week, in fact). I think they are calcium deposits, also. They were brown on my brown eggs and blue on my blue eggs.

 

[MandyH]

I get those all the time. They are similar to the spots that are on turkey eggs. I always chalked it up to calcium deposits. I don't have any mites or bugs on my birds.

 

[kristinahm]

Thanks so much for all of your replies!

I think I'll just go with the calcium deposit theory. Especially beacuse ChikeeMomma said hers were different colored depending on the color of the eggs. I doubt insect eggs would change color to match the shell?

Thanks again. It's oddly comforting knowing other people have seen the same thing.

Though I did read one theory on that older thread from Potter Watch that recommended putting the egg in a plastic bag to see if they hatched. Tempting.