In the last month, our chickens have laid three really BIG eggs. There were two that came within days of each other, and the third was laid just this week. Our fresh eggs are usually stored for a few weeks before we eat them, so the first couple of BIG eggs were out in the garage fridge for a bit. Our excitement to see what they contained had been building for a while, and it was finally time to bring them in and see what they had inside!
The first egg was the largest, and when we cracked it open, we found TWO YOLKS! The second egg was not quite as big, but still much larger than normal, and had just one single, large yolk. These eggs are perfectly edible, and made great tasting omelettes for our dinner that night (along with several other normal-sized eggs)!
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Tonight, I just had to see what the third egg contained. I cracked it open, and again, a DOUBLE-YOLKER!
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We had one other double-yolked egg several months ago, and ever since the kids learned this was possible, it has been something that they always remember (and ask about regularly). So we had to make it a “family event” when cracking open these monster-sized eggs, as we were pretty sure they would be among the EGG ODDITIES, containing something unusual. And our eggs did not disappoint!
We had learned about unusual eggs from an issue of our Chickens magazine (even before we had our chickens). There are several types of unusual eggs, including:
- Double (or even triple) yolks (which we have now seen first-hand).
- Eggs that contain a second, tiny egg (which we have not (yet?) seen).
- Eggs without a yolk. Again, we haven’t seen this from our girls, but have read that it can happen.
- Eggs with a thin shell (or even no shell). We’ve had this happen a couple of times, and the egg shell was translucent and rubbery. We’ve also seen just the inside of the egg in the nesting box. It was rather scary when this happened, as our first reaction was that a chicken was breaking its own eggs (which is a bad thing that you do NOT want), except we never found any shell! This has happened twice, but the chickens didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. After cleaning up the mess, their egg production continued normally.
- Mis-shapen or irregular shells. We’ve also had this on occasion where a shell is a little “flattened” on one side, or has some “bumpy places” on it.
So what causes these unusual eggs?
The article we had previously read discussed several possible reasons, but in general, most of the unusual eggs are nothing to worry about, unless occurring on a regular basis.
- Seeing frequent thin (or missing) shells may indicate a calcium deficiency.
- Those little bumps on the eggs might be caused from excess calcium.
- Many of the irregularities with the yolks can be attributed to minor “glitches” in the hen’s reproductive system.
- Multiple yolks may be released too close together, causing the double (or more rarely, triple) yolked eggs.
- Missing yolks may occur when a young hen is just starting to lay.
- And the egg-within-an-egg is also a strange (and much more rare) occurrence that could happen when things don’t go as planned within the reproductive system.
As long as your hens are otherwise happy and healthy, you shouldn’t be concerned when the occasional unusual egg makes an appearance.
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