There is no end to the gross oddities that you're exposed to when you have chickens. Chicken keeping is not for the faint of heart. Or fainters in general. Partly because of the lash egg.
Now I'm not a farmer. I'm a regular gal in a regular house with nice shoes, an affinity for gold plated flatware and expensive haircuts. I also have chickens. So my shoes get chicken crap on them and I once left the grocery store realizing I had a piece of straw sticking out of my expensive haircut. That straw had chicken poop on it.
So even though the chicken poop part of me could handle what I found in the nesting box the other day, the nice shoes part of me was aghast and disgusted.
When you have chickens, most days things go without incident. It's just you and your gorgeous chickens as they romp in the straw, scratch in the dirt and dance in the sunshine (everything seen through a filtered lens in slow motion). No, seriously, they dance in the sunshine. For real. Then one day you go to the chicken coop and you find something new. Something unusual. Something horrifyingly gross.
Such was the case last Tuesday.
Last Tuesday I went to check the nesting boxes, (where the chickens lay their eggs) like I normally do.
And I found an egg like I normally do.
Only it wasn't an egg, it was a horrifying rubbery blob.
I knew right away I had a problem. One of my chickens clearly needed an exorcism. Barf.
Double barf.
The chicken owner part of me removed the offending rubber blob from the nesting box, but the gold flatware part of me refused to touch it.
This, dear readers, is a regular egg sitting beside a lash egg.
A lash egg isn't an egg at all, only it is.
I asked poultry vet Dr. Mike Petrik, The Chicken Vet, what the hell this is and what causes it.
This was our email exchange:
Dear Mike,
What the hell is this and do my chickens need an exorcism. I have some sage around here somewhere and I think I can find a priest.
Karen Bertelsen
Dear Karen,
This is the result of an egg partly forming, then getting "hung up" in the oviduct. If you squint, you can imagine that the bigger piece is the yolk and the funny shaped part is a collapsed membrane that is folded around some amorphous material. The membrane is the part where the shell would have formed and the amphorous stuff is the protein from the egg white, once the water is removed.
This often happens with sick chickens, since the first response to illness is to conserve resources. The egg stops whereever it is in the process. If you cut it open you can see the yolk is cooked. The result of a fever.
It is quite possible that this is from Cuddles and is a sign that she is fully recovered and ready to come back into production.
Mike Petrik
Okey doke. So let's cut it open!
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I'm losing count here but I think we're up to triple barf.
The inside of the disgusting lash egg.
And just as Mike predicted, some of it is cooked on the inside.
Now let's cut each half in half again.
Now you can really see the eggshell membrane in there.
So this was definitely an egg that was just about finished forming when something went awry.
The morning after this happened, Cuddles was back in the nesting box but she didn't lay anything. In fact she hasn't laid anything since. But she seems to be happy and healthy.
Other than that whole head spinning around incident yesterday.
Meh. I'm sure it was nothing.
Vanessa
saw this on the Kitchn and thought it was amazing (I figured why would a chicken need a rooster, but I like this explanation, not to mention that it makes why you got a funny egg make sense).
http://www.myswitcheroo.com/products/chicken-reproductive-poster
kitchen artwork perhaps? or something in a weatherproofed frame for your coup?
TorontoBoy
I'm guessing this is an early halloween post? with the dexterity that Dexter Morgan would use, cutting up that lash egg I couldn't help but guess that you were grinning to yourself knowing that some of your readers would squirem reading this post! Hahaha!
Feral Turtle
I think I will skip my egg this morning!
Miriam
I have just become a vegan.
Katbert
This is probably a great post but after the first couple of pictures I could not look and could not read. I thought rats were my worst nemesis but perhaps not. Karen, I am still a devoted fan/follower. JUST STOP GROSSING ME OUT!
Angela
Holy cats Karen! Ive never thought of myself as squimish, but that did it! I can't even write my thoughts cause it will make me nauseous again!
super happy cuddles is on the mend!!
Mindy
Um, barf is right. It looks like a fucking breakfast burrito made by a disgruntled employee.
Shauna
Holy Begeezus, please stop cutting that thing and taking more pictures! BLECH! BLECH! BLECH! That was NOT the chicken farmer side of me.
Ellen
That is soooooo gross!!
J9
Ew and whoa at the same time
Deirdre
I'm going to have chickens one day! I know I'm going to have chickens one day, my partner knows I'm going to have chickens one day. And seeing this really prepares me for the situations that could happen when one has chickens. Thank you. Bonus point: my 14 year old says she is never eating at McDonalds again, lol. :-)
Janelle
Wow, that's turned me off of eggs, breakfast sandwiches and dim sum, in one fell swop. Glad your girl is showing (revolting) signs of recovery. Imagine if humans had something like that fall out of their butt every time they got over a virus?
Faith
Thanks Karen so much. After owning chickens for years now, we've never had a lash egg, but thanks to you, I know what to look for. I really appreciate that you're not so squeamish as to take photos and help the rest of us learn new things!
Also, glad cuddles is better.
Tara
Ugggghhhh. I was doing okay until the pictures of it cut open. Vomit. Glad it might mean good news for Cuddles, though!
Jake
For the first time I can remember I did not read to the end of the post. This just freaked me out, and I'm not particularly squeamish. Thanks for this Karen, my day is ruined, my lunch is ruined and so is my supper. Yuck.
Laura Bee
Facinating! We had chickens when I was a kid. If I'd ever found one of these - I'd have cut it open too!
Mel
First, thank you for the warningat the top of the page, I read this after lunch, and I'm happy I did.
Second, I am overjoyed that it means that Cuddles is better.
Stacey
I'm nervous laughing... loudly... alone, because I am so grossed out. And, I am not one to gross-out easily. Those pictures are amazing. Veganism here I come!!!
I'm so happy Cuddles has expelled that alien! I'm even happier that she seems to be feeling better and back to her adorable self. :) YAY!
Thank you for your awesome posts, Karen! You made my day!!
Liz
Yes Stacey!! the nervous laughing!! Even just reading peoples' comments, it's washing over me again.
Meg
This is an excellent post. I can totally see the yolk/white/stuff at the end - I was even hoping you'd bisect it! FOR SCIENCE! Excellent. I'm glad you're not faint of heart.
Liz
there was much whiskey giggling over here!...followed abruptly by some gagging. real dry heevy gagging. that was disgust. but I'm really glad I got to see it, and really glad that you had a putty knife for transport and dissection. #ew