I've been getting eggs now for about 3 weeks...we're up to about 5-7 a day from 11 pullets. Yesterday when I was cracking eggs for breakfast, I always crack them in a bowl first. (Can't stand the thought of eating a blood spot! Those eggs get fed back to the chickens.) Anyway, I didn't see a thing in any of the eggs...but then when I cooked them, I noticed a very thin thread-like strand that was sort of a brownish color and it seemed to be attached to the egg white. It didn't show up until the eggs were cooked and I noticed it in 3 of the 6 eggs I was cooking. I pulled one off and looked very close at it...but unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it. It looked sort of like what cooked blood would look like color-wise, it was about 1-1 1/2" long, very thin and had no discernible characteristics (like a worm would have...Ick!!). It sort of looked like a very very thin tube with blood in it. It was a thread looking thing. At first I thought it was just an overcooked edge of egg, you know how they get brown on the edges when you fry them. I've looked up "wormy chicken eggs" on the internet and none of the photos I've seen look at all like this.
Please tell me my chickens don't have worms.
The chickens are around 23 weeks old, all came from hatcheries and all are very healthy...I haven't seen a sign of worms anywhere! No bloody stools, and none of the other things a chicken would have if they were wormy. They have bright eyes, good appetites and shiny feathers. They are on DE all the time... in their nests, on the floor under their bedding, on their roosts and we clean the coops and tractors out faithfully on a weekly basis. As far as overcrowding...All the chickens have about 4 square feet of space in the coops. They get regular layer feed, oyster shell grit, occasional grass clippings and fresh produce from our veggie garden. Besides that, the only other thing they eat is the couple of eggs I've had with blood spots scrambled with the egg shells crushed up finely.
Any ideas? Is it worms or could it just be one of those new layer's little quirks?
Please tell me my chickens don't have worms.
The chickens are around 23 weeks old, all came from hatcheries and all are very healthy...I haven't seen a sign of worms anywhere! No bloody stools, and none of the other things a chicken would have if they were wormy. They have bright eyes, good appetites and shiny feathers. They are on DE all the time... in their nests, on the floor under their bedding, on their roosts and we clean the coops and tractors out faithfully on a weekly basis. As far as overcrowding...All the chickens have about 4 square feet of space in the coops. They get regular layer feed, oyster shell grit, occasional grass clippings and fresh produce from our veggie garden. Besides that, the only other thing they eat is the couple of eggs I've had with blood spots scrambled with the egg shells crushed up finely.
Any ideas? Is it worms or could it just be one of those new layer's little quirks?
