This morning I went out to collect eggs and feed the hens. Upon opening the nest box, much to my surprise, I discovered "not an egg". One of the nests contained something flattened and tan colored - and NO - it was NOT a chicken turd!!! Once I got brave enough to pick it up and examine it, I discovered it was an egg without a shell!!! It was like picking up a water balloon, but it actually was a yolk with the membrane intact! NO SHELL!! One of the hens needed a talking to - the lazy little slacker! Then I remembered, it IS Halloween, after all. She was just a bit early with the TRICKS! No TREAT for THAT ONE! Geesh!
Of course it prompted me to do a search on the internet. This is what I discovered online at
Poultry Help: The membrane was placed on the yolk, but it somehow slipped past the 'shell mechanism", and the shell was not deposited!
I've also discovered many double-yolked eggs - not uncommon in hens new to the working world! And from Tina, the pet hen I had owned years before, I learned about mis-shapen eggs, eggs with NO YOLK, and also about an egg WITHIN an egg!
Please note that the pictures are not my own, but were brought in from the website,
Poultry Help. You may visit that link to read more about these egg oddities!!! And - Happy Halloween!!! TRICK OR TREAT!!!
