Why are eggs speckled?

[wishingon]

I have 2 buff brahmas, 3 RIR, and 3 buff orpington hens. They're 32 weeks and I'm pretty sure they're all laying, I just started getting about 3 eggs a day. I noticed some of them are speckled. Some have dark speckles, and some have almost white speckles. I'm wondering why they're speckled, and if the gal or girls laying them will always lay speckled eggs? My husband said the one with white speckles was fertilized. Is that a possibility?

 

[junebuggena]

Without a rooster around, there is no possible way for an egg to be fertile. A lot of people mistake blood or meat spots for a developing embryo. You cannot tell if an egg is fertile, just by looking at the shell. Brown eggs are actually white eggs that have a coating applied to them. Think of the speckles as over spray, where the coating doesn't get applied perfectly even. It's pretty normal. The one with white speckles probably didn't get enough coating to cover the egg completely.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Especially with new layers they are getting their systems worked out. Yes it's normal just like junebuggena said.

I think it usually disappears but can stay that way depending on the chicken. I have a buff cochin that lays the prettiest speckled eggs. Sometimes less than others. Been going that way for a couple of months now. I hope it never changes! It makes her eggs very distinct and a beautiful part of a colorful egg basket.

 

[wishingon]

We do have two roosters, I probably should have mentioned that! So it's possible that they're fertilized, but speckles have nothing to do with it. The only thing about the white speckled ones is that the white speckles are raised, almost as if it was applied after the brown coat. If I get a white speckled egg today I'll post a picture! Thanks for the help guys!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I've had that before to, probably the shell gland working itself out still.

You can tell if your eggs are fertile by looking at the blasto disc on the egg yolk. A plain white polka dot is not fertile. But if it looks like a bull's eye then it is. There is a nice article about it in the learning center if you care to peak at it.

 

[junebuggena]

We do have two roosters, I probably should have mentioned that! So it's possible that they're fertilized, but speckles have nothing to do with it. The only thing about the white speckled ones is that the white speckles are raised, almost as if it was applied after the brown coat. If I get a white speckled egg today I'll post a picture! Thanks for the help guys!

Right. The white spots might also be excess calcium deposits. The yolks are fertilized prior to the egg ever being laid, so there is no external evidence of fertility. Some people mistakenly believe that the rooster fertilizes the eggs after they are laid, but that is not really possible. And the eggs do not spontaneously develop.

 

[aart]

White spots can also be excess bloom(cuticle) as well as calcium deposits or thin and 'spotty' color coating.
Speckles can vary from day to day in some birds, some birds only produce them once in a while.

 

[donrae]

Conventional speckled eggs, with the brown "coating" applied unevenly........





When I was telling my Honey about the analogy of the brown being "sprayed" on after the shell is formed, he thought that one over and asked if we needed to go out and shake the hens a bit, to unclog their sprayer. Like a can of spray paint

. Nope, nope and nope. I enjoy the speckled eggs, and egg customers delight in them.

Here's what I call reverse speckled, with the white spots. These were barely raised, not really textured ridges like excess calcium. Not sure why they happened, but the hen laid them for years and had no issues. The darker brown spots are not real, they're just where the egg was still wet from being washed. But, that would be cool if they were real!

 

[wishingon]

So this was laid this morning! I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the speckles are raised, almost like someone splattered paint all over it. They also have a bluish tint to them. I'm not judging my hen, these are the biggest and they're delicious! Just curious

Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[junebuggena]

So this was laid this morning! I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the speckles are raised, almost like someone splattered paint all over it. They also have a bluish tint to them. I'm not judging my hen, these are the biggest and they're delicious! Just curious

Thank you everyone for your help!

That is probably excess bloom.