White spots on brown eggs

[OlekLorenc]

My 5 22 week old hens start laying about 3 weeks ago. I get 4-5 smallish brown eggs every day. Yesterday and today 1 has had white spots on the shell the color of the ground oyster shells I've been giving them. They're finishing off their pullet grower (with the oyster shells on the side) and I'm transitioning them to the layer feed (Layena). Is one hen just eating too much of the oyster shells? Should I stop providing them with the oyster shells once I switch to the layer feed full time?

 

[Hypnotist_Collectr]

I would.
I don't supplement calcium unless I notice the shells are a bit thin.
I save all of their shells and then toss them into a blender, and have them free feed from it when/if I notice the shells aren't as strong. When I notice spots on the eggs, I stop adding to the eggshell crumbles.
My chickens eat a lot of leftover veggies and the kids pick tons of grass and weeds for them, so depending on diet, they might not be getting enough calcium at times and enough at others.
I read once that spotty eggs are a signof too much calcium, so your instincts are correct.

 

[Illia]

I'm not so sure you should worry of this. . . There's a difference between calcium deposits building up like lumps on an egg, and just simply white spots on them. Then again your white spots are pretty weird looking. . . But when my girls were young pullets, they too had a lot of speckling on their eggs. It was weird because you usually think of a speckled egg having dark speckles. After a while it either increased to create pink eggs or disappeared.

Yours may or may not be a problem - Since your girls are so young I wouldn't worry yet though.

 

[Tala]

I think it's just a problem in the egg coloring department.

My redsexlink has laid everything under the rainbow, and now she's on strike

Examples:
Dark speckles, light speckles (all the brown eggs are hers)

Almost white! Middle and right egg - laid on the same day!

Dark brown speckles! (front egg)

 

[missnu01]

I was also wondering this, because today both hens laid a speckled egg. I don't supplement any calcium though. They have layer pellets and also some grower/starter available most of the time...I was worried the hens might be eating too much of the starter and not getting enough calcium, but then today everyone's eggs are speckled with white.

 

[smlpkg]

My R.I.R. laid a very small white speckled egg yesterday, after not laying for 3-4 days after swallowing two screws. When that happened, she quit eating. The egg came the day after she passed both screws, and I noticed at that time that she had worms. I immediately wormed her, but realized later that I had given her too high of a dosage. Her appetite picked up, but she laid this odd egg. So you may want to check your chickens droppings for anything that looks like worms, or just go ahead and worm her if she hasn't been in a while.

 

[Cristin McPappy]

I'm new to this and so are my hens. This what everyone of the eggs that my Red Sexlink has laid looks like. I just give them layer feed and veggies, no oysters or extra calcium.

 

[jackiedee]

I got this today and we were curious. I love this site!! Glad to know it's fairly normal.

 

[Secondof9]

I'm so glad to be able to look this up on BYC!!! My girls are new to laying (about 3 weeks). Today I got this speckled egg. Nice to know it's nothing to worry about this early in their career. Thank you!

 

[aart]

Will just pop this in here:

'Speckled' eggs can happen for several different reasons...very few, if any, of which are a 'problem'.

Can be caused by:

Excess or uneven pigment coating.

Excess or uneven cuticle(bloom).

Excess calcium deposits.

Porous eggs can appear speckled.

Some birds lay them consistently, some only once in awhile.

The pigment or bloom can change appearance when wet, then change back when dry again.

As long as bird is getting a good diet and is healthy in every other way, it is no cause for concern.