What's going on with this egg?

[Jen Miller]

Hello. I'm hoping someone might be able to provide information about something going on with one of our ducks, specifically in the eggs that it is laying. We keep a flock of 16 ducks (a variety of white pekin, cayuga, buff orpington, runners, and rouen) and 2 toulouse geese. Two of the ducks, not sure which ones, recently began laying again. One of the two we find each morning is coated with a dark brownish grey coating which when washed off, is very slimy. It's definitely not dirt or something picked up after laying. When cracking the eggs open, they have some greyish spots inside of them, which look like mold (I'm sure they are not mold, it's just what they look like). We aren't eating them.

Any thoughts on what this could be?

Thanks!

Jen

 

[1lpoock]

Your Cayuga is laying them. Cayugas can lay grey to almost black eggs when they first start laying for year. I'm not sure about the spots inside though.

 

[froggie71]

Not sure about the spots either, maybe you could post a pic for us to see.

 

[Jen Miller]

Thank you. I will try to get a photo of the egg inside to post. Would the Cayuga eggs at the beginning have the coloring come off in a slime when washed? I only remembered them being blue and didn't know this is how they were at the beginning. Thank you for the input.

Warmly,
Jen

 

[froggie71]

Yes, it's the bloom of the egg. This you would not wash off if you were incubating. We have black runner eggs that almost an olive green before washing off the "slime" and then they are a mint green color.

 

[pardygwyn]

I can't find them, but there have also been posts on here about the mold-like spots inside the egg, complete with photos. The consensus was they were normal and the eggs were fine to eat.

 

[Sweetfolly]

Quote:
When my Khaki Hens first started laying, I had a few eggs with what are called "Meat Spots" inside. They're sort of greyish-brownish flecks, sometimes they're pink or bloody looking. They're unappetizing, but safe to eat. Pick the spots out with a knife if you can't stomach the thought of eating them.

It's just a bit of extra membrane tissue (or sometimes a discolored blood spot from a ruptured vessel) - it usually doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the duck that laid it. Her body's just getting into the swing of things - my Khaki's only had meat spots in about 3 eggs during their first two weeks of their first year of laying. Since then, all their eggs have been normal, besides the occasional blood spot towards the end of summer.

 

[Jen Miller]

Thank you both for your input!

Warmly,
Jennifer