I recently discovered an egg on the floor of our henhouse.Funny thing about this egg however,it appeared to have been layed with all its parts less the shell. Even the membrane that usually lines the inside of the shell was there. Any information on this unusual occurence will be most appreciated. Thank you, Mary Mattix.

-- mary mattix (marymattix@hotmail.com), January 06, 2001

Answers

I asked this same question not too long ago!

The shell is the last part of the egg to be formed and the egg can be laid before it is finished due to to a fright or a start on occasion. It was also explained to me as just a sort of "hiccup" in a hen's system that will pass. Or it could also be a calcium deficiency. But if the girls are getting plenty of oyster shell in their feed then it's probably one of the first two options and will pass.

It only happened a few times with my hens and hasn't happened again since mid summer. I hope I've been able to help!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), January 06, 2001.

It's a soft-shelled egg. No biggie. If you get more than an occassional one, feed more oyster shell. Any good book on poultry will explain it to you. If the membrane is intact, so that no dirt has gotten in, it is perfectly safe to eat. Kathie

-- Kathie in Western Wahington (twinrosefarm@worldnet.att.net), January 07, 2001.

Soft shelled eggs are something that will show up once in a while. In my small flocks, I have only had one or two.

My parents had a "factory" chicken house when I was a kid. 16,000 birds. We would usually get one or two soft shelled eggs a day. My mom would save them and use them for hard boiled eggs because they were so easy to peel.

It is nothing to worry about, unless you need every egg you get to be perfect.

Funny that I would even have chickens now. After years of gathering eggs in that chicken house, I decided that a few birds deserved to live in a sane environment instead of the insanity of "factory" hen houses. My mom just shakes her head and thinks I'm nuts.

-- Wayne (plefor@hotpop.com), January 07, 2001.

I used to run into that occasionally with the pigeons and chickens, as well as some of the house-birds (cockatiels). I found that is was usually transitory, except in one case and knew about that because it was a cockatiel and we had to watch her constantly for egg binding due to the funky shapes that she tried to pass. Increasing the Vitamin E and A and D in her diet seems to have helped.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 07, 2001.

....and they're loads of fun when the kids put them in egg cartons anyway....

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), January 08, 2001.

I have the same problem I have six birds and a free banty rooster but I got some ideas from the ansers so far and I gess the hen is just scared because is has enouff calceum but it might not be eating it.

-- emily (I dont have one@home.com), January 16, 2002.