why do some eggs have no body to the egg white???

[trunkman]

Some of my eggs spread out in the frying pan and the white has no real body to it, what causes this? Also some of my brown egg layers have very thin shells compared to my easter egger eggs even tho I add oyster shell to their feed. Help!!

 

[ChicKat]

Hi trunkman,

one thing that I have heard is that thin whites are a component of old eggs. Do you collect right away and then use in the order you collected? Just curious, because otherwise it could be something nutritional.

Thin shells with plenty of oyster shell around, could mean that your chickens aren't metabolizing the oyster shell. This is interesting because my brown layers have a bit thinner shells than my white layer. One way to boost absorption of the calcium is to be sure that the pH of their water is acidic enough. put 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in their water and see if that doesn't help a bit. If your water is highly alkaline maybe even 2Tbsp of ACV per gallon. Another nutritional component hens need is plenty of vitamin D3. It is possible to get chicken vitamins at a supply store, like Tractor supply, or on line. I purchased some for human consumption vitamin D3 and crushed a tablet mixed in with some feed I was giving my chickens when an egg shell seemed thin. I had noticed at the time that I had placed the movable coop in a very shady spot and with the holidays hadn't given them as much free-ranging time as usual so they could go sun bathe. (vitamin D-- the "sunshine vitamin")

So two things, ACV in their drinking water and be sure that their diet contains adequate vitamin D. With fewer hours of natural sunlight the chickens have less time to absorb the components to use vitamin D.

Hope this may help a little bit. Post back to us when you have the 'cure' and what it was that got your eggs to the way you want them. Oh and one other thing....if your brown egg layers produce eggs at a faster rate than your Easter Eggers, or if they are older, they may have less calcium. The slowly produced egg (every other day for example) versus the fast (daily) egg requires more calcium from the chicken.

 

[trunkman]

Thanks Chickat, I do eat or sell my eggs in the order I get them (consume or sell older ones first) but that doesn't seem to matter because I have gathered eggs that I cracked into the pan the same day and it still had no body, I will try the apple cider vinegar tomorrow tho. As far as the egg shell thickness they do get lots of sun because they are out all day although they don't get much greenery because they stripped their 50 foot by 50 foot yard bare of grass or anything that used to grow there...I will also try the vitamins.. thanks again...

 

[ChicKat]

somehow, I figured you were a fresh egg type of person. ;O)

Here is a link that may be of some interest:
www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/Why-are-the-whites-of-my-chickens-eggs-watery-H86.aspx

could be several causes. one that they mention is age of the hen(s). One is ammonia.... Chickens are sensitive to levels below the ability of humans to detect. Maybe it is something that will self cure--- with the vinegar, because the acidic pH promotes absorbtion of other nutrients as well as the calcium. ----

 

[erinszoo]

We have the same issue with watery eggs from time to time. We've even had it in eggs that we've gathered and eaten on the same day ... and we gather every day and keep them in order in the fridge. I usually crack mine into a bowl before I use them one at a time and keep the watery ones for scrambling or baking. They just don't fry well. Not sure why they are watery though.

I do keep oyster shell available all the time and have a light in the house and we don't have issues with egg shell thickness, other than sometimes they are too thick and I have to crack them with a knife. We don't do anything else special for them though other than they do get kitchen scraps of vegies and they range in the compost bins every day. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[trunkman]

Chickat, ammonia is the one thing I think might be a problem, I just changed their bedding a day before Christmas, I use the deep litter method and changed their bedding because of the ammonia smell. I haven't consumed all the eggs since then but will keep an eye on that, thanks.

 

[trunkman]

Erin, that is a good idea, I used to crack my eggs into a bowl before I put it into the pan because of blood spots in my old hens eggs but stopped after they passed on and the eggs from my new hens didn't have that problem, I will try that from now on, thanks for that idea.

 

[ChicKat]

Quote:
It would be interesting to see if changing the litter makes the whites 'thicker' and how much time needs to transition for the change. It is just part of the facinating stuff about keeping chickens. Have you gotten to the post Christmas time eggs yet? curious if it was amonia. Thanks.

 

[CluckyJay]

I notice my RIR have thinner shells than my leghorns, They all get the same diet and free-fed oyster shells.

The older my eggs are, the thinner their whites become.