wind eggs

[pharmchickrnmom]

This morning when I let the girls out I noticed a wind egg on the floor of the tractor. It had been broken open and the yolk partially eaten. This is the third one I have found in two weeks. I noticed the first one when I saw noname acting funny while she was out freeranging and she laid a windegg on the lawn. The next morning I found one on the floor of the tractor but quickly pulled it out before the girls could get to it. I am not sure why this is happening as all of the eggs I have been getting have very nice shells on them. Does anyone know what causes this? I am not sure if it is just her laying them or if it is one of the other girls. They have 24/7 access to layer feed as well as yogurt twice a week, boss once a day and any veges/fruit I have extra of. They freerange almost every day for an hour or more. For those of you not familiar with the term, a wind egg is an egg with no shell and possibly no yolk as well. It looks like a water balloon. Any input would be helpful.

 

[gritsar]

I've only ever had three fart eggs from my girls. They were hard-shelled, very small, two had yolks, one didn't. Just a glitch at the egg factory.

A soft shelled egg is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Have you tried looking here for info?:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publi...ndbook/16/thinshelled-eggs-and-shellless-eggs

 

[Ohhhdear]

I've had a couple hard shelled tiny (less than 1.2 ounces) eggs in the past week. Neither had yolks. However, the previous day I'd had enormous 3.5 ounce eggs from every one of my hens. I've also had a couple wind eggs (no shells) in the straw of the coop. Some were pecked open, others ignored.

It may be their ages (my girls are 6 months old). Or their breed (I have production type chickens from TSC). But my belief is that since the wind eggs or too-small eggs are easier to lay, they kinda slide right out without much work. Instead of taking the time to get into the nest box and do the work of laying an egg, these easy-to-lay eggs are more "oops!".

Couple weeks ago one of my hens was acting strange in the evening, about 6:45pm or so. She'd waddle, her fluff feathers almost brushing the ground. She'd stand perfectly still, almost asleep looking, then startle awake and move off, then squat a bit. Reminded me of one of my kids when they were really trying to hold in a bowel movement and weren't sure they'd make it to the potty. Next thing I knew, out slid a micro-thin shelled egg. This hen also laid a perfectly normal hen the next morning.

I'm not sure how you can prevent any of these conditions, especially hens pecking at wind eggs laid outside the nest boxes.
But I did notice in your list of feeds that you didn't include any oyster shell calcium. Mine have it in a bowl beside their coop where they can freely access it. Without it I may have more weird eggs than I already do.

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

Windeggs are a sign that the hens NEED MORE CALCIUM
BESURE THEY HAVE PLENT OF OYSTER SHELL
most times people are only feeding just egg shells to the hens.
ALSO THEY NEED GRIT AND OYSTER SHELL IN SEPERATE FEEDERS
Also take and dump the left over oyster shell and grit
at the end of the week in the area they scratch when free ranging and add more new oyster shell and grit.
IF THEY LIVE IN CHICKEN HOUSE WITH PEN WITH SOIL,
THEN TAKETHE LEFT OVER OYSTER SHELL AN GRIT AND
THROW THE OYSTER SHELL AND GRIT IN THE SOIL OF THE CHICKEN PEN
THE CHICKENS WILL THEN SCRACH IT UPAND EAT IT.
thus more oyster shell and grit natural.
PLUS THE OYSTER SHELL AND GRIT IN THE SHED IN FEEDERS
CHECK ME OUT ON NATIONAL POLTRY NEWS AN NATIONAL POULTRY NEWS#3 ON FACEBOOK

 

[aart]

Windeggs are a sign that the hens NEED MORE CALCIUM

Not true^^^

For those of you not familiar with the term, a wind egg is an egg with no shell and possibly no yolk as well. It looks like a water balloon. Any input would be helpful.

Not true either.......

Shelless (just membrane) or thin shelled eggs may be a lack of calcium in diet or absorption of calcium.

A wind egg is a very small egg(can be around one inch), usually with an adequate shell,
caused by a small piece of shed tissue in reproductive tract, or an immature/undeveloped ova(yolk).
The body encases it like it would a yolk

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

from wikipedia

Look up wind egg in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wind egg or variants may refer to:

• Cock egg, an egg without a yolk and/or a shell

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

hthttp://www.countrysmallholding.com/poultry/why-is-hen-laying-wind-eggs-1-3591139
Why is hen laying wind eggs?

A wind egg compared in size to a 2p piece
Archant
My one or both of my French Wheaten Marans is laying a wind egg about every week. They haven’t come in to lay yet and I wasn’t expecting them to until later in the spring. My cockerel of the same breed and age is mounting them regularly (as he is all my girls, except the ex-bats who have something to say about it)! I have kept chickens for four years now and had never seen a wind egg before and Dave is my first cockerel. Are these regular wind eggs his sperm being packaged as an egg? I have included a picture if that helps.






Victoria Roberts says:
A wind egg is the colloquial name for a fully formed egg that does not have a yolk in it. These are generally much smaller than normal eggs and are a blip in egg production, either at the beginning or end of lay when the hormone level has not stabilised and are nothing to worry about, your young hen will settle down and begin to lay proper eggs once the days really start to lengthen. The cockerel has nothing to do with wind eggs and his sperm is held within special storage glands in the oviduct (egg tube), only moving up to the infundibulum (funnel that the yolk falls in to) when a yolk is ovulated in order to fertilise it. The lifespan of a sperm once it swims out of the storage gland in response to the ovulation hormone is minutes, so no spare sperm are likely to be included within a normal egg. Since there is no yolk in a wind egg, the sperm will still be in the storage glands.

 

[Glenda Heywoodo]

Images of wind eggs

bing.com/images
PHOTOS ARE BING