in the nesting house today

[Lisasbolt]

This must have been uncomfortable

[Bigmallly]

That's brilliant.............pre-scrambled egg..........

[roitelet]

Oooo makes your eyes water!

[Nicos]

Wow- that's fab!!!!!

Thanks for sharing!

[Scarlet]

Is it from an older bird?

[Lisasbolt]

Yes they are all getting on to be about 3, maybe just over 3.
Often have weird shaped ones but this has been the worst.

[janzbro]

Hi, this could be a hen that has had a bout of infectious bronchitis but recovered are the egg whites watery as well as having misshapen shells?

Dont worry, its rarely fatal but the disease does cause permanant scarring of the reproductive tract, hence the misshapen shell. Is it just the one hen that lays them, have any had sniffles runny nostrils, coughing (bit like us having the flu).

Have they ever been vaccinated

[Lisasbolt]

No never vaccinated but i do often worm. Oh i hope i did not miss a illness. Nothing as far as i am aware. I think it is just the one chicken who lays these, has been like this for a long time, as long as i can remember actually, but the egg instead is normal a lovely orange yolk and thick whites. They all seem very happy hens so hopefully if it was a illness it is long and gone.

[Lisasbolt]

Sorry forgot to say thank you for the info.

Is it normal to vaccinate your hens?

[janzbro]

If the white is not thin and watery its unlikely to be I.B. as that is a classic sign.
We have 1 hen that lays very crinkled eggs like yours but its whites are watery, if I try to make a poached egg with it, the white mixes in with the water and turns the water cloudy but they are fine for scrambled eggs and she is fit and healthy apart from that.

As said earlier its probably an age thing, did you rear them yourself or buy them as pullets

[janzbro]

I have got all my hens from egg farms when the were 80 odd weeks old and of no commercial value, so they have all been vaccinated from an early age but that does not guarantee zero losses.

[Lisasbolt]

I would like to think we saved them, we got them at 7 months old and they were being sold by a Spanish feed supplier which had them in the smallest of areas, 2 chickens to every shoe box size cage, they could not even turn around, just forced forward. They were pretty much featherless etc he had more than surplus, so i told him what we thought and since he only puts one in the shoes box cage!
Thanks for your info

[Nicos]

Well done Lisa...poor little things

[Nicos]

My chooks aren't vaccinated either...I think the vet would fall off his chair if I asked him!
Don't know anyone over here who has them vaccinated either.

[vixylix]

I worked for a farm vet for 3 years and I'm pretty sure we never vaccinated a chicken!