Weird egg white splat found a second time

[maarijke]

One time I found a wet splat, no yolk, no shell, inside a nesting box. We have pellets and straw in the nesting boxes. Some golf balls. There are two laying hens who live together. One gifted to us who is a leghorn and another rescue black something who knows? Australorp Marans?

The black hen lays speckly brown eggs w dark brown spots. She lays pretty regularly. The white leghorn only lays every so often. I dont know how old either of them are.

I did have the black one Gloryetta purring in my arms a few days after she was rescued and came to live w us. She si the alpha and very friendly. She talks back to me when I call her.

I have noticed she has never once pecked her own eggs but once the leghorn came to live w her the brown eggs started getting pecked so we added golf balls. No more pecked eggs.

The leghorn Donut (i didnt name her) is insane scaredy crazy afraid.

Today i went out to fill water and say Good morning and I saw this sun hardened dried splat.

Once months ago in the nesting box and again today. Poop? No way. Its like ONLY egg white. Dried in a puddle.

Ideas? Im super new. We live in hot hot dryyyyyyyyy desert Colorado above 6k feet.

 

[azygous]

It's tough dealing with a flighty chicken. I'll address that in a second. Passing only albumen sometimes happens when a bit of tissue sloughs off the wall of the oviduct and passes down the chute gathering albumen, then is expelled too quickly to build a shell around it. But sometimes, a shell is built, and you get a fairy egg.

That's what's likely happening. It's not something serious at this time. It may just be an occasional thing, or it might turn into something more concerning at some point. But the hen isn't close to that yet.

I have a flighty hen (EE) that has just driven me nuts since she came into lay a couple years ago. She explodes in a flurry of flapping wings and shrieking when I even so much as make a move in her direction. You can desensitize a chicken like this, but it takes a lot of time and patience.

I had a Cochin rooster once that was twice as bad as this hen, and I worked with him every day, handling him so he would learn I wasn't planning on butchering him after a long session of slow torture. It finally became possible for me to reach for him and pick him up without him having a complete meltdown. Then a couple of blankety-blank wandering dogs killed him. That was many years ago.

This hen is becoming better, as well, after patient handling. She still is nervous when I make a move toward her, but I can now pick her up and handle her when I need to.

 

[maarijke]

It's tough dealing with a flighty chicken. I'll address that in a second. Passing only albumen sometimes happens when a bit of tissue sloughs off the wall of the oviduct and passes down the chute gathering albumen, then is expelled too quickly to build a shell around it. But sometimes, a shell is built, and you get a fairy egg.

That's what's likely happening. It's not something serious at this time. It may just be an occasional thing, or it might turn into something more concerning at some point. But the hen isn't close to that yet.

I have a flighty hen (EE) that has just driven me nuts since she came into lay a couple years ago. She explodes in a flurry of flapping wings and shrieking when I even so much as make a move in her direction. You can desensitize a chicken like this, but it takes a lot of time and patience.

I had a Cochin rooster once that was twice as bad as this hen, and I worked with him every day, handling him so he would learn I wasn't planning on butchering him after a long session of slow torture. It finally became possible for me to reach for him and pick him up without him having a complete meltdown. Then a couple of blankety-blank wandering dogs killed him. That was many years ago.

This hen is becoming better, as well, after patient handling. She still is nervous when I make a move toward her, but I can now pick her up and handle her when I need to.

Excellent. I will try to condition the crazy to tolerate me and the nice one to be even nicer. There is hope!!