In my online research to learn what could be causing this I got several possible explanations:
a) Too much calcium in the diet (I doubt this, as my laying hens have mostly been eating starter-grower food with the young chickens lately. I would think laying hens get more calcium but i could be wrong - I will have to compare the ingredient composition.
b) Respiratory infection (can't see any sign of runny noses/beaks or illness in my flock.)
c) Disrupted routine or stress (their lives seem pretty idyllic and calm to me. I suppose one chicken could be extra stressed at the bottom of the pecking order.)
d) Inherited trait of some chickens. (this is a possibility.)
e) First imperfect eggs of a young layer. I am going with this explanation for now, and expect the texturing will disappear. I do have several new layers. I have occasionally gotten an egg with a small rough patch before (like the brown egg above) and it seems to have been when I have new hens laying.
Until I got chickens and raised my own eggs, I never realized that chicken eggs could be anything but perfect, smooth oval gems. Almost always they ARE perfect, so it has been a big surprise to me to discover an occasional egg with an indented midline, or a funny long shape or a soft shell...or rough texture. Hens are females with hormones whose productivity varies with age, day-length, well-being, stress, and diet. I can relate to all that!
4 comments:
I have been reading up on that too. I feel like I'm overloaded with information from the internet lol! I ordered pullets 'Buff Orphantoms'. The Golden Crest were not available for sometime. I even started a blog for my chicken adventure ;-)
I ca't imagine becoming a novice midlife farmer without the information resources of the internet to answer my myriad questions. But you are right - it can sure be overwhelming, as well as giving contradictory info. I visited your awesome new blog. I think you will love the Buffs!
they can get even more weird than that! Some even lay eggs with just a skin and no shell. Sometimes happens as hens get older, stressed and lay fewer but larger eggs. Still perfectly OK to eat!
On another blog, someone who has chickens posted a photo of some double yolked eggs. I remember those from when I was a kid, but I never see them any more in store bought eggs. I guess they must filter them out, which is too bad, because they were such fun.
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