What are the brown spots on eggs?

[mason123h]

Today I got an egg that as covered heavily with brownish red spots all over the egg. When cleaning the egg you can even scratch off some of them. There was even a noticable ring of it near the bottom. Is this a sign of too much of a vitamin, of a vitamin deficiency? Or is it something else?

 

[emys]

It is just areas of heavier pigmentation. It's normal, nothing to worry about.

 

[sklr112]

It happens to me too... speckled brown spots, right?

 

[mason123h]

Quote:
Yeah! One that I got was really covered in them. I was just wondering if there is some vitamin that they aren't getting enough of or something.

 

[sklr112]

Im not sure either. I am new to chickens, just got some last spring and started laying only a few months ago. About once a week it seems i get 1 speckled egg... i have for hens. i still eat them. they seem to be ok to me.

 

[Illia]

It is the extra brown pigment being splattered on the egg. Some breeds have been bred for that extra brown to go all over the egg, thus creating the dark red eggs like these:

Some breeds and crossbreeds even just have a slightly orangey colored egg with big huge splotches of dark brown. Very pretty.

 

[mistymeadowchicks]

Thanks mason123 for asking--I've noticed & wondered about this too! (I'm new to chickens & love this website--what a wealth of information!) Just curious, what kind of chickens do you have? I've noticed more of this speckling (& a lot of them are actually raised dots) from my 2 year old+ brown sexlinks. I've wondered if age or breeding (maybe what they were crossed w/?) has anything to do w/ it. The younger (9 month old) barred rocks & amberlinks (another cross) haven't laid any speckled eggs. Also, have you noticed the speckling getting heavier on some days or disappearing completely on other? Perplexing, but nice to know it's 'normal'!

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, those. Well, they're brown spots.












As others have said, they are extra pigmentation and sometimes extra calcium deposited with the pigment.

 

[mason123h]

Quote:
I have barred plymouth rocks and a white leghorn/ rhode island red cross. I have gotten some very densly spotted ones one day, and then the next day they are clean of spots. Some even have distinct rings of spots on them which seem very strange to me.
The main thing I would like to know, is if this means that I need to get some kind of vitamins for them or something.

 

[AKsmama]

It is not a sign of any sort of deficiency or anything wrong. It happens to all of us that have any type of brown egg layer. Most days none of my eggs have any speckles, and some days we get three or four that have speckles. It's normal and natural. I personally love the surprise of speckled eggs.