red yolk ... is it ok?

[lynda66]

cracked pingus 4th egg today (from yesterday) and about half the yolk was blood ... is it anything to worry about? i seen a little spec in her first one (tiny) but this was horrid

[MaureenHall]

I've googled to try and find an answer, but mostly it was about blood spots in the egg. One site did say this

"To a certain extent you can get some red dots in chicken eggs because they've been fertilised, but it's perfectly possible to get red dots and a little bit of blood if they're not fertilised. That's because the egg gets made in the chicken's oviduct. It descends the oviduct and has the shell made around the outside. Sometimes as it's going down the oviduct, a blood vessel in the wall of that oviduct in the mother chicken can burst and spill out and get into the material that's being laid down in the egg. This means that you have a little blood spot in the egg that then gets wrapped up in the shell. Most egg producers shine lights through the eggs in order to see if that's happened and weed them out. Pale eggs are easier to weed out than the brown ones, which is why you tend to see it more often in brown eggs. It's not in any way pathological having the spot in them and you can eat those. They're harmless."

Which isn't much help really. Sorry love, hope someone else can help you xxxx

[RichmondHens]

It can happen sometimes in young hens and is nothing to worry about. You may not wish to eat the egg but I don't imagine it would do you any harm if it did. As Maureen says, it's caused by a ruptured blood vessel in the oviduct, mostly just appearing as blood spots, but occasionally you get a larger bleed.

[MaureenHall]

Thanks for your answer RichmondHens, I know Lynda will be relieved!! It's something I haven't come across yet, but no doubt I will do in time. It's a pity it happened with Lynda's first egg-layer.

S'ok Lynda, go and give Pingu a cuddle now

[lynda66]

ok fanks i wish they didn't have to lay eggs now don't like thinking of her bleeding ....

anyway i'm sure the girls will appreciate it for their lunch, i didn't fancy eating it at all

goes off to snuggle pingu and feed her worms

*wonders if pingu has been having secret liasons during the night

[Flummery]

I've read about them on the ex-battery hens group - I don't have ex-batts but you pick up some really good info there. They refer to them as 'blood-filled eggs' and they aren't uncommon - particularly in older hens like theirs. However, as RH says, pullets whose systems are just coming on-line have similar problems - it's all women's troubles really!

[frias]

I had quite a few of these over a short period with my ex-batts. All seems OK now but not getting that many eggs at the moment anyway. Hopefully it's only a blip in Pingu's reproduction system.

[lynda66]

well they had scrambled egg they seemed to think it was quite tasty she hasn't laid me an egg today either am only a ikkle bit worried now though