What in the world is on my egg?

[MidnightSunEQ]

My girls are out on 1 acre pasture for the summer. Found this egg in my horse hay, definitely laid today by my Midnight Majesty Marans. Hen is just over 1 yo, has been laying since last fall. Have yet to see anything like it. The weirdness is question is not attached to the egg.

 

[MyParadiseFalls]

That’s fly eggs

 

[Eggcessive]

There looks to be egg yolk on the egg, and some sort of insect larvae on the outside of the egg. Has she been laying eggs there, and maybe breaking some, sitting on them?

 

[Susan Skylark]

Fly eggs and yolk, ugh!

 

[MidnightSunEQ]

There looks to be egg yolk on the egg, and some sort of insect larvae on the outside of the egg. Has she been laying eggs there, and maybe breaking some, sitting on them?

This was the only egg I found. It was on top, with no evidence of another egg. No shell or wet hay anywhere else. Yesterday’s egg was in the coop with everyone else’s. Fly eggs are gross though!

 

[MarlaMac]

You might want to check out each of your hens. If fly eggs are that close to the egg, they may also be on her. If they start hatching, they will start eating whatever is near, including your hen. That is really bad. Search flystrike.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes a hen may lay a thin shelled or shell-less egg in the nest box, and the next one in may lay her egg in the mess there. I had a hen who had a shell-less egg problem, and her nest box had to be cleaned out daily with bleach water, or maggots would be there. So I would spend some time for a day or two to watch who is laying, and what the shell condition is. I would also use some permethrin spray in and around the coop to control flies. Let it dry for an hour before letting the chickens in.