Weird egg product

[LucyZ91]

good morning! My brother-in-law sent this picture of an egg he took from my flock of 18 chickens. He said he thinks it came from inside one of the eggs. Could it be part of a chalaza? He asked if it was safe to eat and I told him probably but I wouldn’t stake my life on it until I found out what it really was. Anyone know? It’s the slimy thing on top of the egg.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Interesting... hard to say really what it is... It could be a worm of some kind.
I wouldn't really worry about it, unless there is a hole in the egg. I would say it is fine to eat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Why does he think it came from inside one of the eggs? It is possible, worms have been trapped inside eggs. But I suspect something a little different.

To me that looks like a baby tapeworm. Tell him to look up photos online and see if he agrees. He can see more details than that photo provides. The hen has one set of plumbing for her egg laying system and a different set for her digestive tract. They meet at the vent. There is some separation when she is laying an egg to keep the egg clean but what I suspect is that a worm was down at the vent area when she was laying the egg and it came out with the egg.

To me this means he needs to worm his chickens. When this happens the worm load inside is enough to cause damage to the hens.

I notice that egg is cracked. I'd be reluctant to eat a cracked egg, maybe cook it and feed it back to the flock. But in general, if it were not cracked, I'd have no problems eating that egg as long as there was not a worm inside when I opened it.

 

[LucyZ91]

Ok, thank you. It's my flock so I'll be deworming my hens ASAP. He said he was cracking eggs into a bowl and thought it came out of one of those eggs, just happened to land on that egg. I'm not sure about the crack in that egg. So you think it is a worm?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do. Can't think what else it might be.

 

[LucyZ91]

I do. Can't think what else it might be.

Thanks again. Be deworming tomorrow.