URGENT!!!! chicken yolk in nesting boxes with no shell?

[boykin2010]

Hello. let me start out by saying i have 10 chickens. 3 arent laying yet. currently i have 3 nesting boxes with hay in it. today i came home and 4 eggs were in 1 nesting box. On closer inspection i saw that there was a sticky light yellow substance all in the hay and on the egg shells of the 4 i got. I thought maybe one of the eggs had a hole in it so i brought them inside and washed them and there was no hole anywhere in the 4 eggs. I am really confused and then i thought maybe they laid an egg then they ate the shell and left the yolk in the box? It didnt really have a definite form like the normal orange yellow yolk it was more like a puddle of it. There was ants in there eating on it too.
I read somewhere about jelly eggs does this fit the description i just gave you? Are the eggs i got that were ok safe to eat since they were in the substance? thank you and any help is appreciated.

 

[Kittymomma]

Sounds like one of your girls layed a shell less or soft shelled egg. It happens once in awhile and is usually no big deal as long as they are on a good diet with enough calcium. If it starts to happen regularly then you need to be concerned but an occasional one (especially with young hens/pullets) is no big deal. The other eggs are fine to eat though they should be refridgerated since the "bloom" was washed off along with the dried yolk. When washing eggs it's best to use water that is warmer then the egg so bacteria doesn't get pulled in thru the pours in the egg shell.

 

[boykin2010]

do u think its because one of my chicken that arent old enought to lay tried to? i recently found an egg with blood on it but i found out this was normal because it was a pullet just begginning to lay. I feed them all sorts of stuff if it is a calcium problem what do u suggest i feed them?

 

[Kittymomma]

Well, to start with what exactly are you feeding them? Layer feed has enough calcium for most hens, but I always have a few that seem to need a bit more so I keep oyster shell out free choice for them. Oyster shell is cheap and I often feed gamebird feed which does not have extra calcium so it's especially important for my flock. If you feed a lot of treats that could also compromise what they're getting nutritionally.

 

[boykin2010]

they have layer pellets whenever they want in an automatic feeder. Every day i throw out 3 handfulls of scratch feed. My mom also loves to feed them treats and leftovers almost every day. over the past 3 weeks we have fed them bread bagels corn okra green beans peas cooked rice and turkey stuffing. They have loved and ate all the stuff we give them. Their run is on the ground without chicken wire on the bottom so they scratch at the dirt. I also dig up dirt from my dirt road and put in the coop for them they love that and they seem to peck at the really tiny rocks and sand particles. Is this enough u think?

 

[Kittymomma]

Sounds like they have it pretty good. You may want to cut back on the treats a bit--veggies are good and the rest of the stuff isn't bad exactly, but if it's making up more than about 10% of their diet it's too much. If you find anymore softshelled eggs I'd go ahead and put a dish of oyster shell out for them, the ones that need it will eat it and the others won't. I think I paid around $7-$8 for a 50lb bag and it lasts for ages so is cheap insurance if you are at all worried that they aren't getting enough calcium.

 

[boykin2010]

ok thank you. you have been such a good help.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Soft shelled or shell-less eggs are normal with a new layer. You'll get all sorts of weird eggs as their bodies adjust to the cycle of egg laying.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Ditto. Mine started laying recently and I'm still getting weird shell-less eggs sometimes and they have plenty of calcium. Every now and again I'll get just a yolk in the nesting box or an egg that has the most delicate shell - normal.

The worst part is it makes the nest box nasty and the other eggs in there completely gross!

 

[boykin2010]

ok thank yall that makes me feel a lot better