What the heck?!?!

[Chickenkeepr]

This is the second one of these I've found in the yard. Last night the girls were being pains about going on and I almost stepped on this one. It was still very warm when I picked it up. The lighter part is very rough feeling while the rest feels normal. The last picture is of the other side of the egg.

[/IMG]

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

It is probably calcium deposits. Try adding free-choice oyster shell to their diet.

 

[PerfectPlumage]

Have any hens who recently started laying? Sometimes hens new to laying will lay some goofy starter eggs.

 

[Chickenkeepr]

They have free choice oyster shell, are free range during most of the day and fed layer crumble at night. All of my pullets (minus my littlest EE that just started) have been laying for a little over a month now. The first one of these I found a month ago and I have no idea how long it was there. I have a hen that regularly lays eggs with calcium deposits on them and they feel much different than this.

 

[rides2far]

Mine are almost 7 months old & I get an egg similar to that once in awhile, too. Mine are on layer mix, + free choice oyster shell. I actually just started having all 14 use the nesting boxes. One laid in the poop tray & the other in the run. It just takes some a little longer to figure things out

 

[nhrocks]

I get eggs like that when they are laid in the grass for some reason. Don't know if it is the bloom reacting with the wetness of the grass as it dries or what. But all the eggs laid in the pine shavings in the coop have normal shells.

 

[Chickenkeepr]

nhrocks- You may be on to something lol. Both of these were in the yard, and none of the others that are laid in the coop have been that way. Now, I just need to figure out how to get them to stop wandering! Anyone have any ideas? They are currently on lock down because they had to be chased back home three times yesterday and they have gone from free range all day to free rangins only from about 3pm-8pm. I don't want to keep them in all the time but I can't have them running all over the neighborhood.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They sell electrified poultry netting that is easy to set up and move around, otherwise it can be hard to keep chickens from wandering.

 

[nhrocks]

No suggestions for keeping them in the yard except fencing. I live on a rural highway. The neighbors apparently have free range chickens too, because when we hatched out some eggs last summer, we got some black chicks. We didn't have any black adults. So apparently they all went down the road and someone got knocked up by an australorp. Don't know if I owe them a stud fee ...

 

[Chickenkeepr]

Haha. No one else in my area has chickens (we are technically located within village limits but have a 4.5 acre lot that is grandfathered in so we can have livestock and such) but the neighbors do have a couple of darling pitties (bless their hearts they are terrified of the chickens) but the neighbors next to them have a couple of boxers that have no respect for anything. Everyone seems to enjoy seeing them, but it still gets on my nerves. I was hoping that getting rid of our roosters would help but I was wrong lol.