Weird Egg

[BondHillChickens]

We live in a city, so I feel confident saying it isn't a snake, turtle, or other reptile. It is in an enclosed pen, so it can't be a visiting duck or goose or other bird. Strange!

 

[ChicKat]

Hi BondHillChickens,

During my 3 1/2 months of chicken keeping, I have gotten two 'wierd' eggs. Chalky shells, brittle and not covered in brown ( I have brown egglayers too). I know that they were from one of my chickens, as you probably know yours is from one of your chickens.

On both occasions, my chicken had undergone stress while the egg was being processed through her system. Once she got drenched, and eventhough I tried to towel her off, she was pretty soaked looking like a drowned rat for a while. The second time was extreme heat. The thermometer on the end of my wire run said 120-degrees.

So as you unravel the mystery, you may want to consider what was happening to the chicken(s) the day before --(eggs are about a 25-hour cycle on average.)

I cracked both of mine open and they were perfect inside. (I cooked, mashed and fed back to the chickens-- figuring it would help them get over the stress).

Don't think that incubating would be successful because the chalky type shells wouldn't have integrity.

I think the longer you have egg producers, and the more eggs you get, the more occasions can present where there will be a QC issue with the egg. Like egg-inside-egg or some other unusual egg event. Probably nothing to worry about unless it becomes the norm. Of course your chickens will have access to all the calcium they need to make normal shells -- right?

Hope it is just one of those once-in-a-blue-moon things that happens every now and then in the egg production activity.