Meat spots-Blood spots, The Cause, The Cure

[IdahoPrepper]

I am posting this hoping this gets out to the chicken world and helps a lot of people.

We have had chickens for 9 years. 4 years ago we started having eggs with "issues". Meat/blood spots started becoming a huge problem. We could no longer sell or eat most of our eggs. It started off being 3 out of 12 and ended up being 9 out of 12 filled with multiple spots. You could not eat them and cannot sell them either.

We tried everything to fix the issue and I do mean everything. Must have tried 12 different types of the best food on the market. Tried worming, tried ACV, tried probiotics, tried adding things to the food, tried selling off the flock and getting new chickens. Nothing helped!

Even tried sterilizing the coop, then later on building two new coops thinking they were contaminated.

So to rehash we tried, new food, new coop, new chickens (3 new flocks), treating birds etc, nothing worked.

Then one night I couldn't sleep and I had an idea. We had started off with a coop that had a low roost (maybe 12") and no issues with eggs (no meat spots). We out grew this coop and built a second larger coop. The second coop has a 3' roost with no ladder (meat spots 30%). The third coop had a roost of 4ft and again no ladder (meat spots 75%).

So in case you haven't figured it out, the chickens jumping down from a high roost were damaging the eggs. I am 100% sure of this because I just built a ladder for the 4ft roost and the meat/blood spots stopped in 3-4 days 100% gone.

I caused the problem and cured it.

PS ...bird wings are clipped, birds are heavy breed. I heard them jumping down the night I couldn't sleep and had an epiphany!

Hope this helps someone. No one knew what the issue was. I talked to chicken experts and vets and read every forum. No help!

 

[DarJones]

It is also partially genetic. I've had problems with Black Australorps where other similarly heavy breeds had zero eggs with blood spots. I always have a roost with steps the chickens can go up and down on. Also, my birds are mostly medium weight in the 6 to 8 pound range and all can fly enough to come off the roost and land on their feet.

 

[1Slayer]

I am posting this hoping this gets out to the chicken world and helps a lot of people.

We have had chickens for 9 years. 4 years ago we started having eggs with "issues". Meat/blood spots started becoming a huge problem. We could no longer sell or eat most of our eggs. It started off being 3 out of 12 and ended up being 9 out of 12 filled with multiple spots. You could not eat them and cannot sell them either.

We tried everything to fix the issue and I do mean everything. Must have tried 12 different types of the best food on the market. Tried worming, tried ACV, tried probiotics, tried adding things to the food, tried selling off the flock and getting new chickens. Nothing helped!

Even tried sterilizing the coop, then later on building two new coops thinking they were contaminated.

So to rehash we tried, new food, new coop, new chickens (3 new flocks), treating birds etc, nothing worked.

Then one night I couldn't sleep and I had an idea. We had started off with a coop that had a low roost (maybe 12") and no issues with eggs (no meat spots). We out grew this coop and built a second larger coop. The second coop has a 3' roost with no ladder (meat spots 30%). The third coop had a roost of 4ft and again no ladder (meat spots 75%).

So in case you haven't figured it out, the chickens jumping down from a high roost were damaging the eggs. I am 100% sure of this because I just built a ladder for the 4ft roost and the meat/blood spots stopped in 3-4 days 100% gone.

I caused the problem and cured it.

PS ...bird wings are clipped, birds are heavy breed. I heard them jumping down the night I couldn't sleep and had an epiphany!

Hope this helps someone. No one knew what the issue was. I talked to chicken experts and vets and read every forum. No help!

That is very interesting to know, thank you for sharing.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Just to be clear... Is there a reason why you think you can't eat a blood/meat spot? I would understand why you say you can't sell them, they're not always appealing, but to say you can't eat them is somewhat misleading.

Interesting observation though. I've tended to notice spots are age and breed related in my flock, but I've never paid much attention to those that like to throw themselves from the top roost.

 

[1Slayer]

Just to be clear... Is there a reason why you think you can't eat a blood/meat spot? I would understand why you say you can't sell them, they're not always appealing, but to say you can't eat them is somewhat misleading.

Interesting observation though. I've tended to notice spots are age and breed related in my flock, but I've never paid much attention to those that like to throw themselves from the top roost.

I have also noticed that my oldest hen..(Grandma) will lay huge eggs, but they have very thin shells, and usually blood spots inside. I cook those, and just feed them back..shells and all..

 

[Aunt Angus]

Just to be clear... Is there a reason why you think you can't eat a blood/meat spot? I would understand why you say you can't sell them, they're not always appealing, but to say you can't eat them is somewhat misleading.

Interesting observation though. I've tended to notice spots are age and breed related in my flock, but I've never paid much attention to those that like to throw themselves from the top roost.

I personally can't sell eggs with meat spots - not commercially, anyway. Eggs with meat spots fail grading/quality standards for egg farmers where I live. I can sell them to friends/family/neighbors, but I can't put them in my commercially labeled cartons. It sucks.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pretty sure this isnt the only cause. I have a hen (calico princess to be exact, so a very high production mix) that has meat spots in nearly all her eggs and has since she started laying. Including the 3 months or so where her pen didn't have a roost higher than a few inches off the ground.

Whereas my cornish bantams have a roost about 4 feet up that they crash land off of constantly and I have yet to have any meat spots in their eggs

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think there's probably a number of factors, but yes I've read that strenuous physical activity (like leaping off a high roost) can contribute to meat/blood spots. Some birds seem to be genetically predispositioned to them as well. I have a Buff Orp that's since stopped laying, but some 90-95% of her eggs had meat spots.

 

[lsufran]

I have 6 young hens that started laying few months ago. I have one that seems to lay eggs with meat spots. I need to figure out which one it is so I can know when she lays and remove her egg. Looks like I will have to waste a few eggs one morning trying to figure out which one it is. Blood spots I can deal with. Meat spots no one wants to see and they don’t want eggs even free eggs with meat spots. Is there a chance the one laying meat spot eggs will ever stop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is there a chance the one laying meat spot eggs will ever stop?

Possibly, since she's still young. Or possibly it will continue for the rest of her laying life. My one bird that was very prone to meat spots probably had something like 90-95% occurrence of meat spots in her eggs, so I always pulled her eggs out for things like baking or mixing into meatballs, where the spots could easily be removed and/or at least not impact the final look/taste of product.