Luna Landscape on my egg shell. Ideas?

[theabsinthefairy]

Over the last year we have had some strange shaped eggs from our assortment of hens - but this one is decidedly odd.

Any ideas as to the cause - she is eating the same diet as the others, who are producing normal shaped eggs, she usually only lays every other day sometimes every three days.

We wondered if she was wriggling about on the nesting box which is full of straw and causing the pattern while the shell was still soft.

She is happy and well otherwise.

??????



My other option of course is to attempt to sell it on ebay.

- and yes to whoever answers any chicken query with 'wring its neck and stick it in the pot' - I know that this is a cure-all for all sorts of maladies but this is the daughters chicken - so I can't pop it in the oven (not yet anyway).

[ukwife]

Just googling so not trying to panic you but putting in wrinkled egg and slow laying came up with bronchitis.
A photo of wrinkled eggs was also on the site that popped up so you might want to check this http://tinyurl.com/6aw97g
The last thing that came up was a lot of "stuff" happens as one offs or check they are getting enough calcium.

Either way I hope you can figure it out.
Lyssa

[Thurston Garden]

I get the odd wrinkly egg, but have never seen one like that before!

A wrinkly egg suggests an older hen so I just let her (whoever she is!) get on and lay the wrinkly ones. I have lent my Dad my poultry book otherwise I would have had a wee look for you.

Have you considered the Gallery of Modern Art? Perhaps you would win a prize

[theabsinthefairy]

All chickens well and healthy - and only coming up to their second year.

However, we think we may have solved the mystery of our luna egg - we think it may be the produce of one of our ducks - and therefore her first attempt and wrinkles can be forgiven - we have now had 3 of these luna eggs on consecutive days, all slightly less wrinkled than the previous.

Biggest problem is - she wants to lay with the chickens, and cannot fly up to the nesting box - which is acutally the top of a sack of straw, so she is climbing up the side and scattering all the eggs off the top.

I have introduced various boxes, straw nests, and they all want to lay in one place, and all wait patiently in line for their turn to get up there, we have seen on a couple of occasions when they could not wait, they have sat on there two up, beak to tail, laying at opposite ends.

[ainslie]

"...they all want to lay in one place, and all wait patiently in line for their turn to get up there, we have seen on a couple of occasions when they could not wait, they have sat on there two up, beak to tail, laying at opposite ends."

Can you show us a picture of the que for the nesting box? I've been getting a lot of pressure from my daughters and freinds to get laying hens - would be interested to see what your nesting box looks like. I'm not sure I can have real free range hens where I live as I'm very close to a busy road and there are a lot of varmits around here like fox, coyote, and neighbour's dogs who would take my hens to lunch!