It's an egg, alright...looks like somebody needs a little vitamins - try a few spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar in their water, and perhaps some calcium based grit...
I see those from a few of the new pullets every year when they first start laying. There just isn't enough calcium in the shell so it never gets rigid. Unless you see this consistently from a single hen, it should not be a problem. If you do see it repeatedly, calcium based supplements do help. We usually give the soft shelled eggs to the dog - he loves them!
Yup, I've had them before - very weird feeling! Your hen is not getting enough calcium even if they do have free choice calcium, perhaps she isn't using it. Personally I would add some to the feed...
Oh I forgot to add, when I had chickens, I often fed their egg shells back to them and I have a whole bunch saved for when I get some again... not to worry it won't cause them to start eating their own eggs like some people think. Egg shells are just calcium carbonate.
We get a few soft-shell eggs from our chickens when they first start laying. We did have one of our hens who went egg-bound last year and she had a few of those.
When we keep our chickens penned up we feed them oyster shells. I get them at the local feed store, they come ground up in a bag. We just keep a pan full in their pen and they eat them free choice.
Even with oyster shell available you can still get these occasionally. It is just one of those things, along with the "fart eggs", odd shaped eggs, and eggs with attachments. As long as it doesn't continue it isn't a problem.
I have a 5 year old hen named "Flat Butt" that has to have a deformaty inside her. Her eggs are flat on both sides. Been that way since she was 2 years old.
I got one just like that the first week we were getting eggs. it was dark when i reached in to get it and i didnt realize it was funky and it freaked me out and i dropped it. lol. i was wondering if anyone else ever had that issue... guess so.
lol! Our hens have all given us fart eggs at one time or another. They are always in the beginning when they are in the process of getting their internal egg laying parts working normally.
I used to think they were lacking something, like calcium, but that's not the case.
After a few weird eggs, we don't see eggs like that anymore.
People who only buy store-bought eggs will never see eggs like that because the fart eggs are always discarded.
We always get a freaky egg like that when the hens start laying again in the spring. We call them rubber eggs. Their systems figure it out pretty quickly. :)
Thanks for sharing...I've never gotten one like that in the past when I've had chickens. Seeing your group sure makes me miss them. Can't wait until I can order my new chicks.
We get a few of those a day when our hens begin to lay. Nothing to do with the calcium.If you were to cut open a laying hen,she would have eggs inside in all forms of developement from tiny "jelly eggs" to larger ones in the end stages of development the "jelly"coating becomes the membrane and the shell forms on the outside. Just wasn't completely developed yet.
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19 comments:
It's an egg, alright...looks like somebody needs a little vitamins - try a few spoonfuls of apple cider vinegar in their water, and perhaps some calcium based grit...
I see those from a few of the new pullets every year when they first start laying. There just isn't enough calcium in the shell so it never gets rigid. Unless you see this consistently from a single hen, it should not be a problem. If you do see it repeatedly, calcium based supplements do help. We usually give the soft shelled eggs to the dog - he loves them!
They get free choice calcium, so I think it is just one of those freak things. I'll try to ACV though, I give it to the goats occasionally.
Strange, but neat discovery. Haven't run across one of those yet.
Jennifer
Yup, I've had them before - very weird feeling! Your hen is not getting enough calcium even if they do have free choice calcium, perhaps she isn't using it. Personally I would add some to the feed...
I'm not the only one with strange eggs yesterday!
Oh I forgot to add, when I had chickens, I often fed their egg shells back to them and I have a whole bunch saved for when I get some again... not to worry it won't cause them to start eating their own eggs like some people think. Egg shells are just calcium carbonate.
We get a few soft-shell eggs from our chickens when they first start laying.
We did have one of our hens who went egg-bound last year and she had a few of those.
When we keep our chickens penned up we feed them oyster shells. I get them at the local feed store, they come ground up in a bag. We just keep a pan full in their pen and they eat them free choice.
Oyster shells is what Mom always used. Sometimes you just have one like this.
It is cool when this happens, just like a large lizard egg.
Even with oyster shell available you can still get these occasionally. It is just one of those things, along with the "fart eggs", odd shaped eggs, and eggs with attachments. As long as it doesn't continue it isn't a problem.
I have a 5 year old hen named "Flat Butt" that has to have a deformaty inside her. Her eggs are flat on both sides. Been that way since she was 2 years old.
~~Matt~~
I got one just like that the first week we were getting eggs. it was dark when i reached in to get it and i didnt realize it was funky and it freaked me out and i dropped it. lol. i was wondering if anyone else ever had that issue... guess so.
Jason, it freaked me out too. I reached in and yuck!
lol! Our hens have all given us fart eggs at one time or another. They are always in the beginning when they are in the process of getting their internal egg laying parts working normally.
I used to think they were lacking something, like calcium, but that's not the case.
After a few weird eggs, we don't see eggs like that anymore.
People who only buy store-bought eggs will never see eggs like that because the fart eggs are always discarded.
They are pretty wild to investigate, though :)
~Lisa
We always get a freaky egg like that when the hens start laying again in the spring. We call them rubber eggs. Their systems figure it out pretty quickly. :)
I really don't want to find one of those when I reach in the nest. We have found tiny eggs, but not one like that. Hope they stop laying them.
That is very random. I have never seen anything like this. Lets hope this doesn't happen again!
Thanks for sharing...I've never gotten one like that in the past when I've had chickens. Seeing your group sure makes me miss them. Can't wait until I can order my new chicks.
We get a few of those a day when our hens begin to lay. Nothing to do with the calcium.If you were to cut open a laying hen,she would have eggs inside in all forms of developement from tiny "jelly eggs" to larger ones in the end stages of development the "jelly"coating becomes the membrane and the shell forms on the outside. Just wasn't completely developed yet.
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