Scrambled yolk and watery whites - advice needed.

[ruth]

I have been experiencing a problem with some of our eggs lately. I gather them daily and gently clean any that need cleaning then put them in fridge. When we crack them open to fry or cook the yolks are scrambled and already broken and they are very watery. We use them within a week of being laid so they are not old.

Does anyone have any idea why the eggs are doing this? The shells are nice and hard and we never know till we crack one open that the insides are already broken up and watery. My egg customers are experiencing the same thing.

The only thing I can think of is that they all want to share the same nest box so over a dozen eggs will be in the box at the end of the day. Plus, they have all become egg eaters if I don't go gather the eggs early enough. All of them getting in and out of the nest usually results in an egg getting broken and if not, they get in the nest and roll the eggs around till they break one, then jump out of nest with it and run screaming around the coop/yard till everyone else gets in on the action. This is the only thing I can think of - that they are somehow scrambling the non-broken eggs but I'm open for other suggetions.

 

[Metanoia]

Just a couple of ideas for you. I don't know if any of these are applicable:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS020

Things that can effect egg whites:
- disease (bronchitis)
- age of hen
- type of feed / high levels of vanadium in the feed

Things that can cause ruptured yolks:
- lack of support from the albumen
- old eggs (not applicable to you)



You might want to collect eggs several times a day if you can to help with the breakage and eating issues. If they have a thin white, and then are moved around, that could be enough to rupture the yolk.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
WOW - that link is very helpful. I'll need to print, save and read it all very carefully. It would be helpful to anyone with chickens since it has so much information.

I'll also have to check our feed label and see if "vanadium" is listed. I'm also wondering if our 100+ temps with 90% humidity are having anything to do with it because we were also getting a lot of eggs with already developing embryos.

 

[Imp]

Here's another link with hopefully some helpful info.

Imp


http://www.thepoultrysite.com/publications/contents/50_waterywhites.jpg

 

[Land of Lost Toys]

this is another good site for egg quality and issues
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/ourbooks/1/egg-quality-handbook/

 

[NotTheMomma]

Mine have only been laying for a month, however I'm seeing the same thing! I have 30 hens, and I don't believe they all are laying yet. I have 12 nest boxes so they have plenty of them to use. I'm getting between 12-17 eggs a day, and they aren't all in the same nest either. I'm wondering if eating lots and lots of apples and pears could have anything to do with it? Mine are free ranging as well, and we have 3 apple trees and two pear trees. They hull out either in no time at all!

 

[ruth]

After scanning some of the articles I'm wondering if it isn't nutritional in some way. I have a few hens who rarely come down from the nest boxes or top shelf - I call them my "shelf chickens" and I take feed to them and they eat on the shelf. I also have to put water up there. Why do they live on the shelf? They are tired of being roo'd. Everyone has an opportunity to freerange but some of my original hens, now 2-3 years old, choose to stay in the coop and normally up on the roost; nest boxes (which are 4 feet off the ground); or the shelf where I had other nest boxes at one time. They aren't out getting the fresh grass, bugs, vegetation and such that everyone who chooses to freerange gets.

I think the embryos is because our heat has been at or near 100 degrees for four months AND the same chickens won't get off the nest. There are many nest boxes but they all seem to want the same one and it's not always the same box as in Box #3 - it's whichever box the first hen lays an egg in. I clean the nest boxes and put fresh hay each morning because they also all roost on the edge of the nest boxes. Yeah, I know I need to "fix" that but I built great new stadium style roosts and many of them, roos included, still roost on the edge of the nest boxes. I need to add a top so they can't do this but haven't gotten around to it. So, I think the combination of heat and the fact that once a hen gets on a nest of eggs, she refuses to budge (not broody - just possessive).

So, the end result is I'm getting dirty eggs (which I just throw away or boil and feed back to the chickens); I'm getting eggs that start developing; and I'm getting scrambled (in the shell) eggs. It's the last one I can't really pin point a cause.

 

[Metanoia]

AHAH! I think you have stated quite a few issues that you can try and fix first and see if there is a difference. A couple of things that spring to my mind immediately:

1. Those hens that don't go outside don't sound well... Mine rush to get out every morning. Is there something wrong with them? You might want to seperate them out if you can, or seperate out the rooster for a while if he is harrassing them. At the very least they need to get some sunshine and a better diet. They are chickens, not princesses. Even try not feeding them for a day and see if they come down when they're hungry enough.

2. If you are boiling and feeding your hens their eggs then that is probably one of the reasons you now have egg eaters. Are you giving them whole eggs or mashing them up first? At least if you are going to do it, don't feed them something that looks like what comes out their butts as they do learn to associate.

3. Collect those eggs 2 or 3 times a day. I am sure this will help with the heat problem effecting the eggs as well as starting to remove temptation from egg eaters.

4. Make some time to fix up the issues you see with your coop. Schedule it in somehow.


Fix up the things you can fix and the other problems may go away.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
1. The hens that don't go out are well, they just don't like getting jumped by roosters. We have way too many roosters and are working on that issue as well. The hens will go out from time to time and the coop is very large, open and airy but they don't go out any farther than the yard - they don't go freerange like the others. They seem pretty set in their ways. I'm not sure the problem eggs are coming from them or not.

2. I boil the eggs and then mash them up shell and all so they don't look like eggs. But...the hens know if the eggs pile up in the nest box that they can break them and eat them so it's a bad habit that has gotten started and now hard to break.

3. I do need to collect them sooner but most of them don't lay in the mornings - they all seem to wait till after noon - around 2:00 or 3:00.

4. Definitely need to fix the nest boxes so they can't roost on them.

Your ideas are all good and I appreciate the help. I'm thinking the heat is a real problem because I cracked an egg open today, to mix with pet food, and it was rotten. It was no more than a few days old. I also take the really dirty eggs and wash them and put them in a bucket to mix with dog food and I don't refrigerate them because they are inside in my kitchen which is cool but they are going bad quickly or starting to develop.

I'm just not sure what exactly is going on - maybe a combination of things but nothing has really changed in what I'm doing. I used to not refrigerate any eggs and I didn't have this problem. I started refrigerating them this summer and now nothing but problems.

 

[the 412 chicks]

I think that if you feed them more greenes that helps. I feed mine lots of grass clippings. My grandmas chickens were on the same feed as mine but hers had the same problems as yours. So i would try that to.