Topic of the Week - When eggs go wrong

[Shabby Chic-Hens]

I consistently get oversized eggs. I think it’s from my Brahma hen, but yeah! The green egg in picture two is a regular size from my Olive Egger.

 

[SuperFluffyChickens]

I didn’t get a photo, but I once found an egg in a nest box - a normal-sized egg for a large breed hen - but it was covered in egg yolk/whites and the remains of a second, thinner eggshell. It was an egg within an egg, only the “outer” shell broke, probably while it was being laid. I felt so bad for the poor hen who pushed out that monstrosity, it must have been enourmous! Also seen eggs laid with no shell, like a water balloon.
The weirdest one I’ve seen, though, was I noticed a hen looking lethargic and straining, like she was getting eggbound. Then she pushed out what looked like those long balloons clowns use to make balloon animals, only it was all twisted and filled with clearish liquid. Gross! Kept the hen under observation for the night and she made a full recovery.

 

[Jmcintosh23]

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With approximately 2% of eggs laid by hens not quite making "egg box quality", chances are most of us at some point put our hands in a nest box and went "What the ?!?!?!!" Or worse, cracked an egg into the frying pan...

This week I would like to see and hear about when your hens got egg-laying very wrong. Be it multiple yolkers, soft-shelled eggs, or unidentifiable offerings. What did you get, what is "normal" and when do you start worrying?

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Pic by @wildpeas​

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For some of the most common egg problems and causes see this article on Common egg quality problems

Just saw date but I still wanted to post something
. This week I had a longer that usual egg and I decided to Crack it into a bowl with other eggs thinking it was alright and no it wasn't there was a yolk but there was something else like an eyeball inside with it...is that possible to have something growing in an egg like that.. couldn't have been that old a couple days a week at the most. Sometimes I get backed up a little and separate out the good and bad and cook what we don't want and give it back to the chickens.. should have taken a picture of it but I was a little grossed out lol.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I get enormous eggs from time to time which make me think OUCH....

And I've also had some shelless eggs that I had to CAREFULLY remove in order to not break them.

But the ones that always make me step back are the few occasions when it looks like a mass murder occurred in the nesting box. I don't mean speckled eggs but rather blood smeared and splattered everywhere. The first time I encountered it, I panicked because I was certain whatever hen it came from HAD to be a goner. After counting all my chickens at least 3 times and checking the rear end of every bird for blowout damage, I found zero evidence of who it came from. Thankfully it's only happened a couple of times in the past 5 years but it sure is messy and shocking to behold.

 

[Callender Girl]

I've had similar scary experiences and, thankfully, with the same outcome.

 

[Buckeye Amy]

Not

yet!

How about a double shelled jumbo? Laid by a Black Star a few years ago.

 

[tviss711]

When my Barred Rock hen first started laying a couple years ago, she was laying those cute fairy eggs. When my husband went home on his lunch break one day, he found this monster egg. We cracked it, and it had 3 yolks inside!! We couldn’t believe it. Her poor little chicken booty.

 

[ChicNmom]

One of my Ameracauna's laid a huge egg. She frequently laid double yolk eggs. I was expecting this to be a triple yolk. But it was full of blood. Yikes!!!

One of my Wyandottes has been popping out fairy eggs for the past 2 weeks. I know it's her because her "normal" eggs are long and narrow and I usually have to give her extra calcium.

So now I'm researching to see what if anything can be done to help her out.