Part of the joy of owning backyard chickens is the horror. They do some pretty crazy shit these birds. Attack cats, try to eat each others faces, I even have one that's a hermaphrodite.
They're really a most interesting pet even without the egg laying talent. Speaking of eggs (see how I transitioned so smoothly there? It's part of what makes me such a talented writer. That and the way I can make up words but have you think they're actual words. Like pencil.)
When you have backyard chickens, or any chickens for that matter, you may happen upon a misshapen or odd looking egg. The benefit to being a backyard chicken is your owners don't generally chop your heads off for the offence. Usually.
I've had eggs with bumps, cracks and ridges come out of my hens. And last week Cheez Whiz laid this one on me.
That would be an egg with no shell. It has the membrane that surrounds the egg. But no shell. At all. Anywhere. This was day two for the egg so it's lost some of the air inside it making it sort of floppy. But just the day before the egg was smooth and tight just like a regular egg, but with no shell.
The above egg is one of Cheez Whiz's normal eggs. The chickens are just finishing up one of their moulting periods and sometimes it takes them an egg or two to get back into the swing of things. I noticed her eating copious amounts of oyster shell after she laid this egg with no shell so she knew she screwed up. Oyster shells gives hens the calcium they need to produce good, hard shells.
You can see just how translucent the egg's membrane is.
To give you a better idea of what the egg was like, take a look at this handy video I made.
Since this offence, Cheez Whiz has gone back to laying normal eggs. Which is a little more appealing, but a little less pencil.
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judy
I am tempted to get those beautiful chickens that have the black, white and maybe red? feathers, not so much for the eggs but because they are so pretty. But we live in Brandermill (1st PUD in U.S.) heavily wooded and we have raccoons,possoms and 2 large dogs-would the chickens survive all that?
Karen
It's hard to say. I'd never let them have free run of the entire place if you want to keep them safe. And they would definitely need to be locked up at night in a secure coop. During the day you could make a run enclosed with chicken wire to keep raccoons etc. out. You'd still have to keep an eye on them but they'd be relatively safe. ~ karen!
michelle
check out this site to keep chickens safe in the "woods":
http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?species_id=6
we haven't had a problem with raccoons, possoms, coyotes or neighborhood dogs.
Ella
My little Vicky laid one of those before!!!!!
Trish Cordiner
Just got it...wow, so interesting!!!
thanks, Karen
Trish Cordiner
Somehow, I didn't get the video????
Mary Werner
I WAS eating my egg and baloney sandwich while reading. How pencil!
Nadine
When I saw this egg the first question that came to my mind was, if laying shell-less eggs is more comfortable for a chick or actually less. ;)
susan w
oh the violence to that squashy egg! with elegant soundtrack, needs to be in slow motion
Toni
I feed the suspect eggs to the dog. She thinks they're great. The queasy ones among you had better stick to grocery store eggs, grocery store meat, and milk. Cringe! Some of those items sold in our grocery stores don't even come from the U.S. I don't know what Canada's criteria is for labeling origin. Here in the U.S. it's a crime to tell consumers what is in the package or where it came from. Makes me wonder what the lawmakers feed their families. It is good for the health care industry in the U.S. so I suppose it isn't all bad. OH, and the fund raising organizations spending the big bucks looking for "The Cure".
Tigersmom
I'm not a fan of eggs, unless they are cleverly hidden in a cake or something. It's a multi-sensory issue for me...taste, smell and texture. I wish I wasn't so turned off by them as they are such a great source of protein.
This didn't help that. At all.
; )
Ruth
Nice reminder of why I no longer use eggs. I can't stand the sight of a raw egg, but feel free to bake me a cake with them. I have nothing against eggs in cake... I'm just not cracking them myself, because I would need to look at them to do that. :-D
Patti
My daughter just bought nine chicks in early April and is finishing the coop. I'll forward this post to her just so she'll have an idea that this can happen. I'm looking forward to some fresh eggs later this year.
Thanks for such an informational post and fantastic blog. I look forward to reading about your adventures every day, well, every weekday.
Susan
Such a lovely orange yolk!
Melissa in North Carolina
Very cool, your video was like art. I loved it.
Thanks for posting something chicken. I've missed hearing about the girls.
Jody B
Oh Karen you make me miss my chickens so. They were little black and white beauties. Fellow I got them from called them hamburgs. Not sure of the real variety. I saw you at Christie but didn't want to bother you. I excitedly told my husband and he said who? Blog? What? Didn't get it at all. It was GREAT at Christie this year. Love love love that day.
jeannie B
Interesting and informative. Now I know something that I didn't know yesterday. Love those dear chickens!
Pam
One of my chickens lays a shell-less egg at least once a week. No clue why, her other eggs are normal. Do I eat it? Nope, but I scramble it, membrane included and feed it back to the girls. And for those who are so grossed out ... bet you eat soft-shelled crabs!!
Karen
Hah. That's exactly what I did. Scrambled and back to the girls. That's what I do with all the suspect eggs actually. ~ karen!
Kat
Whoa! never knew about that. Love learning new stuff!
Amanda Pedro
umm, I think I'll get some oyster shells for my ladies today. I am eating eggs that fell out of my chicken as I read your post. I almost didn't eat the eggs, but I'm hungry.
marilyn
ugh
Jody
Yup. That was different.