wrinkled eggs!

[SCchickens2011]

anyone know why an egg would come out wrinkly looking? I have a hen laying eggs that are fully formed and hard but the shell has a wrinkled texture? I got one on Tuesday that was slightly wrinkled with similar vertical "scratch" marks on it, this one pictured came Wednesday, then yesterday I got one with a bulged side, not wrinkly but has the similar scratch marks again...

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Usually either a viral respiratory disease like infectious bronchitis, a vaccination, a coccidiostat in the feed, poor nutrition or a tumor or other flaw in the shell gland.
Even if other hens are eating the same thing, some individuals need more nutrition.
I've gotten weird eggs(not that weird) that I know came from 2 different hens. I haven't been able to determine which one is doing it currently but I'll cull her when I do.

 

[SCchickens2011]

Usually either a viral respiratory disease like infectious bronchitis, a vaccination, a coccidiostat in the feed, poor nutrition or a tumor or other flaw in the shell gland.
Even if other hens are eating the same thing, some individuals need more nutrition.
I've gotten weird eggs(not that weird) that I know came from 2 different hens. I haven't been able to determine which one is doing it currently but I'll cull her when I do.

well I don't think it could be the viral respiratory since they just came off a two week stint of antibiotics, they are three weeks from last dose as of Tuesday. I feed 18% pellets, offer chicken scratch and they have a scratch block in their yard, plenty of fresh water daily, and when I get another bag I will be offering them black oil sunflower seeds again. Is there anything there you might think isn't needed? I started offering the other so they wouldn't go through feed so quickly, but they have always had the seed/scratch block too and they eat on that a lot. Maybe I am giving too much extra stuff and should just cut out the scratch and sunflower seeds to see if it makes a difference?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Antibiotics don't affect viruses. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections.

Scratch is about 10% protein so if it makes up more than 5-10% of the total ration it dramatically reduces the total protein intake. The more scratch and scraps (unless they contain meat, fish or other protein sources) the higher the protein % needs to be in the feed.

Sunflower see is high in protein and vitamins but high in fat also. It's the grains that drag down the total protein.

What were you treating for with the antibiotics?

 

[dawg53]

Antibiotics don't affect viruses. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections.

Scratch is about 10% protein so if it makes up more than 5-10% of the total ration it dramatically reduces the total protein intake. The more scratch and scraps (unless they contain meat, fish or other protein sources) the higher the protein % needs to be in the feed.

Sunflower see is high in protein and vitamins but high in fat also. It's the grains that drag down the total protein.

What were you treating for with the antibiotics?

x2

 

[SCchickens2011]

Antibiotics don't affect viruses. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections.

Scratch is about 10% protein so if it makes up more than 5-10% of the total ration it dramatically reduces the total protein intake. The more scratch and scraps (unless they contain meat, fish or other protein sources) the higher the protein % needs to be in the feed.

Sunflower see is high in protein and vitamins but high in fat also. It's the grains that drag down the total protein.

What were you treating for with the antibiotics?

duh, right what am I thinking, obviously I'm not LOL! Anyway, I was treating my flock for fowl cholera, or at least taking safe measures, one of my birds developed a large lump/tumor under the beak between the wattles, I culled her and treated the rest, none of them had any signs or symptoms so just taking precautions. I will just stop the scratch and seed and see what happens. Since I don't know which bird it is, I can't necessarily cull anything, also my flock ages range from 8 months to 1 year olds (9 @ 1yr old, 5 @ 8mos old) and I am NOT going to cull and start over unless it's direly necessary. I was thinking of putting a video baby monitor in there to see who is laying when and see if I can determine which one it is.

 

[SCchickens2011]

Usually either a viral respiratory disease like infectious bronchitis, a vaccination, a coccidiostat in the feed, poor nutrition or a tumor or other flaw in the shell gland.
Even if other hens are eating the same thing, some individuals need more nutrition.
I've gotten weird eggs(not that weird) that I know came from 2 different hens. I haven't been able to determine which one is doing it currently but I'll cull her when I do.

So by "coccidostat in the feed" do you mean that medication in the feed could cause this? If so then I am not sure if my feed has any of that, I thought only chick started was medicated?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Only some starter is medicated and yes the only medication in feed is a coccidiostat.
The feed will have MEDICATED clearly printed on the bag and in the ingredients list.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have read a great deal about infectious bronchitis, and have seen some very experienced chicken people say that a wrinkled egg like that is pretty likely due to IB. It's a fairly mild viral disease that can cause a reduction in egg laying and sometimes kidney problems. The most common sign is a sneeze or a squeaky sound. But it can be very lethal in chicks. I agree with Dawg53 and Chicken Canoe.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I missed it, did you ever post why they were on antibiotics in the first place?