Saturday, October 21, 2006

Bad Egg, Good Egg


Look at the difference in these two eggs. One disfigured - one beautiful. What makes the one on the left turn out the way it did? I've seen an egg like this before from our auction chickens. Pale, chalky, lopsided, and cracks and fissures all over it. What happened? Is this typical for an older chicken? The more brown egg is typical of our new group of layers. I'm guessing that the auction girls are quite a bit older than the latest hens. Posted by Picasa

1 comment:

The Unusual Farmchick said...

How odd to have cracks! very interesting. My experience in older hens has depended on breed: Ditzy chick (RIR) who was 2 years old always had dried up blood droplets on the shell after her first molt.She also had a habit of eating her neck feathers and had crooked toes. My oldest 2 are going on 4 yrs of age- The one named Fletcher (red comet) went into a molt over a year ago & never laid again. She continues to go through the ritual of laying an egg but has not produced. The other which is my blue egg laying americauna Dr.suess has always had perfect eggs.She is still very dependable. I average 4 eggs a week from her- which I feel is awesome for a 4 year old hen that has a crooked wing and a limp! Buddy (goat) stepped on her a few years back.
~Tammie