Weird egg problem

[kylara70]

I already posted about this in the egg-laying section but they recommended that I post it here and ask for help. There has been no discussion there and I am not trying to cross post, so here we go!

I have an Ameraucana cross (EE) (about 9 months old) that is laying a white egg with blood in the yolk. It is not a spot of blood but rather blood inside the yolk. It is slightly redder than the surrounding (very yellow) yolk. You can not see it until you pop the yolk, then there is a slight reddishness to some of the yolk contents. It gives the egg a slightly different flavor than the other ones which do NOT have this blood. (meaning that some of her eggs do not have blood in them and taste fine). They are not sitting for any length of time so they are not going bad.

This has been happening infrequently since she started laying about 3 months ago. She only lays once every 3 days or so. She has had other egg issues. First egg was slightly tan, now they are all white. Some of her eggs seem less than perfectly formed as far as the hard covering, but not any with a soft shell. I have given oyster shell and that problem has abated.

She is the most submissive of my girls and the rooster has overly taken advantage of her to the point that she has lost feathers on her back and neck. Rooster is gone. Everything else seems normal, no pasty vent, no weird poop. She is more talkative than my other 2 girls, but has been that way since I got her.

Any suggestions on what to do about these weird eggs (besides just throwing away the bad ones)? I would like to fix whatever is wrong for the chickens sake as well as my sake.

If you have any suggestions about what could be causing my problems with the eggs, I would be thankful for any help.

 

[mypicklebird]

If she is laying regularly, and most of her eggs are normal- she is probably not systemically ill, but if she is laying occasional yolks with blood- there is something wrong with her ovary. Blood contaminated yolks are not a sign of any particular disease I can think of- likely she has a congenital issue. Meat spots and blood spots are somewhat heritable as is shell shape, so I would not hatch out eggs from her & I would not give her eggs to anyone else easily grosses out- as you probably can't tell from the outside which eggs have the discolored yolk. It also may clear up with time, as blood spots are more common at the onset of lay, and this is somewhat similar, though it must be happening as the yolk forms, not as it is released from the ovary....

 

[chkn]

I've had an egg or two with alot of blood in the egg white.

 

[kylara70]

Thanks mypickle. I am definitely not going to be hatching ANY of these eggs or giving them to anyone.

I was hoping maybe I could give her something to help her insides.

So, what I am hearing is that I need to just discard the ones that have blood in them.

Thanks!

 

[mypicklebird]

You can discard them, eat them, or feed them back to the chickens. Chicken blood is not bad for you, it is just more of a aesthetic issue. In our fridge we have the 'good eggs' (for selling or for giving to people), and we have the 'seconds'. The seconds are from the chicken I know usually has a meat spot in her eggs, the giant double yolker eggs, the eggs with warts- that would weird out the egg buyers, the super long skinny eggs that don't sit nice in the cartons, the ones from the chicken who always has a thin spot on the end, and the white ones from the polish who ALWAYS poops on her egg.... In our fridge, the eggs from your chicken would be in the seconds bin- and we would eat them, at least my husband would.... He would not notice a subtle color change. I don't actually like eggs very much... I just like chickens!!!!