A Guide to Abormal Chicken Eggs
by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | Feb. 4, 2025
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Chances are if you have raised chickens for any amount of time… you’ve quickly realized that eggs can take on many shapes, sizes, and even colors. While the supermarkets may try to convince you that normal eggs are oblong and perfectly proportionate, any homesteader can show you otherwise! Abnormal chicken eggs can be perfectly normal or they can be a sign of poor health. Certain types of abnormal eggs can be an indicator of different health factors. This guide to abnormal chicken eggs will cover a wide-range of egg abnormalities and what they mean!
It is not uncommon for a hen to occasionally lay an abnormal egg. Young hens who’s reproductive systems are just kicking into gear may have a few glitches to work out which can result in small or abnormal eggs. Older hens may produce abnormal eggs as their reproductive systems slow down. Then there’s the hens in-between… who may lay an abnormal egg just because their reproductive system messed up that day.
However, abnormal eggs can be a sign of health issues in the homestead flock. Frequent reoccurrences of the same abnormal eggs is a good indicator that the eggs aren’t just a mistake made by the reproductive system. Here are some general factors that may cause a hen to start laying abnormal eggs:
If you notice that abnormal eggs are becoming a regular occurrence in your homestead flock, then you may want to investigate your flock’s diet or health.
We’ve all heard of a double-yolk egg… but did you know that the record number of yolks found in one chicken egg was 9 egg yolks!? Multiple yolk eggs can range from double yolkers to eggs that contain three, four, six, or more egg yolks. These eggs occur from rapid ovulation, causing multiple egg yolks to be released at one time. This is usually caused by the reproductive system being out of sync.
Drugs and chemicals can cause a hen’s reproductive system to get out of sync. Multiple yolk eggs can also become a hereditary trait. Certain strains of chickens within a breed may be more prone to laying multiple yolk eggs due to their genetic makeup.
Multiple yolk eggs are perfectly safe to eat. The egg may contain separate individual yolks or an egg may contain yolks that have fused together. Both are perfectly safe to eat.
Pale egg yolks are a result of lack of xanthophylls in a hen’s diets. Xanthophylls are responsible for the yellow/orange pigmentation of an egg yolk, as well as the pigmentation of a hen’s beak, feet, shanks, and vent. The more xanthophylls a hen consumes in her diet, the more pigmented her egg yolks will be. However, the xanthophylls must also be properly absorbed by the hen’s body in order to be used.
Pale eggs can indicate poor nutrition or reduced nutrient absorption.
Foods like leafy greens, forage, pumpkins, marigolds, and other brightly pigmented or leafy green foods all provide xanthophylls in a hen’s diet. If you suspect nutrient absorption is being inhibited, consider what anti-nutritional factors may be present in your flock’s diet, such as those from grains and seeds.
Pale egg yolks are safe to eat.
White egg yolks are a very rare occurrence. They can be an indication that the bird was just recently wormed for internal parasites or they can indicate poisoning or moldy feed. White egg yolks can also be hereditary, so certain strains of chickens may be more likely to lay white-yolked eggs.
Flock-wide occurrences of white egg yolks can be a result of worming, since more than likely all the birds got wormed at the same time. The same applies to moldy feed being the cause of white-yolked eggs.
Mottled egg yolks appear as a normal egg yolk that has dark or light blotches covering the yolk. These kinds of yolks can be a result of the following factors:
Mottled egg yolks can also be hereditary. If the mottled yolks are caused by genetics, heat stress, too much soybean meal, or a mineral deficiency in a hen’s diet then they are still safe to eat. Egg yolks that are mottled due to worming drugs, acids, or a high storage temperature should be pitched.
Discolored egg yolks are a result of dietary factors. What a hen eats will influence the color of her egg yolks. There are have been reports of egg yolks being red, green, or even blue due to what a hen ate.
Ingesting certain foods in large quantities can cause an egg yolk to take on an off-colored hue. Foods like seed oils, chemicals, and velvet weed can all influence egg yolk color. Do not eat egg yolks that are discolored.
In very rare situations a hen will lay just a single egg yolk, without the shell and maybe with only a little albumen. Finding a random egg yolk in the nesting box can be startling, but it is usually just a sign that the oviduct failed to produce the protein fibers needed for eggshell formation. This is usually a result of a sudden high-stress situation that the hen experienced near the time when she was going to lay an egg.
If you are lucky enough to find the single yolk, I don’t recommend eating eat. In most cases, other hens will probably find the yolk before you do and gobble it up.
Off-colored egg whites are caused by the same reasons as off-colored egg yolks. Diet plays an influential role in the color of an egg’s albumen (egg white). Consuming chemicals and plant dyes can cause a hen to lay an egg with off-colored egg whites. Overconsumption of strongly pigmented foods can also lead to off-colored egg whites.
In most cases, a watery egg white indicates the age of an egg. The longer eggs are stored, the more moisture evaporates through the eggshell. As moisture evaporates from the egg the albumen becomes thinner, resulting in watery egg whites.
However, watery egg whites can also be a sign of infectious bronchitis or fungal toxins. Hens may also lay eggs with watery egg whites during hot weather when they are drinking more water. Older hens may lay eggs that have thinner egg whites as a result of age.
In most cases, an egg with watery egg whites is safe to eat. Do not eat eggs that have been stored for too long and have spoiled, in which case the watery egg whites will be accompanied by a rotten smell.
Cloudy egg whites are a characteristic of freshly laid eggs. If you collected an egg that was just laid, then went and cracked it open, the egg whites would appear cloudy. This is because there are natural gases in the egg white that diffuse and form the air cell as the contents in the egg cool after being laid. Fresh eggs with cloudy egg whites are safe to eat!
Cracking open an egg and finding worms inside is enough to ruin anyone’s egg eating experience. Eggs that contain worms are a sign of a serious internal parasite overload. However, it is uncommon for a hen to have a worm overload and still keep laying, so wormy eggs aren’t too common. You should immediately treat your flock for worms if you get a wormy egg.
Do not eat eggs that contain worms. Also, don’t mistake a mis-formed chalzae for a worm. The chalzae is a whitish coil that attaches to either side of the egg yolk and holds the yolk in place within the egg. Sometimes a chalzae will come uncoiled and appear as a whitish thread throughout the egg white. It is still safe to eat.
Finding an egg inside another egg is a rare occurrence. This can happen when an egg reverses direction in the oviduct. Instead of being laid, the egg goes backward and gets another shell added. Sometimes the two eggs are complete, with each having a yolk and albumen. Other times one egg may be lacking a yolk.
An egg inside an egg is usually safe to eat. An egg inside an egg can be caused by extreme stress or a reproductive glitch.
If you get an egg that is off-tasting, you may need to consider your flock’s diet or any environmental contaminants. Certain foods, when consumed in excess or very frequently, can impart a distinct flavor to a hen’s eggs. Additionally, when an egg is laid, environmental contaminants can filter through the eggshell and give the egg an off-taste.
Foods that have been known to cause off-tasting eggs include garlic & onion, fish, and flaxseeds.
Blood spots occur as spots or streaks of blood in the egg albumen or on the egg yolk. These can occur when the egg yolk sac ruptures as it is releasing an egg yolk. The ruptured sac causes blood vessels to break and get onto the released egg yolk. Blood spots can be hereditary and are more common in eggs laid by older hens.
Blood spots certainly don’t sound appetizing, but they are perfectly safe to eat once cooked. You can also use a spoon to scoop out the blood spot before cooking the egg.
Meat spots are often found free-floating in the albumen and are not commonly on the egg yolk. This is because meat spots are not usually caused by a ruptured yolk sac. Instead, meat spots occur when a piece of shed reproductive tissue gets enclosed in the egg when it is being formed in the oviduct. Meat spots can be a hereditary issue in some strains of chickens.
Like blood spots, meat spots are safe to eat but certainly unappetizing. You can remove them with a spoon before safely cooking the egg.
Lash eggs are a sign of salpingitis. Salpingitis is severe inflammation of the oviduct, which can be caused by a bacteria or a virus. Lash eggs are disgusting looking eggs that, when cracked open, contain puss. This is because the salpingitis infection causes puss to pass into the oviduct and get surrounded by an eggshell.
Lash eggs are often followed by a drop in egg production. They can be caused by mycoplasma disease, e. coli, fowl cholera, or other bacterial and viral infections that cause the oviduct to become inflamed. Lash eggs are NOT safe to eat. Hens who lay lash eggs should be treated immediately.
Mini eggs have many names including, wind eggs, fairy eggs, fart eggs, witch eggs, rooster eggs, dwarf eggs…. you get the idea. Small chicken breeds, like bantams, will naturally lay mini eggs that are complete, containing both a yolk and albumen. However, when you get a mini egg from a hen who is supposed to lay large eggs, and the egg contains no yolk, you may start to wonder.
Mini yolk-less eggs are often laid by pullets who’s reproductive systems are just getting started. Likewise, older hens may lay mini eggs as their reproductive systems slow down. Sometimes a piece of shed oviduct tissue (grayish matter) is enclosed as the ‘yolk’ in a mini egg. Mini eggs that are complete, just smaller in size than usual, may also be laid by young or old hens.
Mini eggs are safe to eat. They do not generally indicate a health concern with your flock.
Did you know that eggs come in all different shapes? You may experience that if you have ever collected a misshapen egg. Mishappen eggs may be elongated, have a very pointy end, be perfectly round, or be in any other shape that is different from a standard-shaped egg.
Misshapen eggs can be laid by a hen who is experiencing stress. Repeated occurrences of misshapen eggs may mean the hen is dealing with infectious bronchitis, a respiratory ailment. In most cases, misshapen eggs are safe to eat.
Two specific examples of misshapen eggs are tube eggs and curly eggs. These eggs look exactly as they sound. Tube eggs are long and may even have a slight ‘tail’ that is narrow and protrudes from one end of the eggshell. Curly eggs are eggs that have a rounded eggshell shape but with a hard curly ‘tail’ attached to one end of the eggshell. Often times tube eggs and curly eggs have flakey, thin shells.
These mishappen eggs are a result of a damaged shell gland or an indication of disease, specifically egg drop syndrome.
White-banded eggs and slab-sided eggs usually follow each other in sequence. One day a hen will lay a white-banded egg and the next day she will lay a slab-sided egg. This is because the two eggs were touching in the shell gland. The first egg, being fully formed, gets excess calcium deposited on part of the eggshell, resulting in a white band. The second egg will develop an eggshell that looks pinched, often called slab-sided. White-banded eggs may have the white band in any orientation around the egg.
These two odd eggs are more common in young hyrbid hens who have just started laying. However, stress and disease can also cause a hen to lay these kinds of eggs.
Joined eggs are eggs that are fused together by their eggshells in the oviduct. This can be a result of two eggs making it into the oviduct at the same time, in which case both eggs will contain an egg yolk and an egg white. Other times, it is more like the eggshell got pinched tightly in the middle and formed what looks like two eggs. However, one end will contain the egg yolk while the other contains the albumen.
Joined eggs are usually laid by pullets who are just reaching reproductive age. They do not generally indicate a health issue and they are safe to eat.
Bloody eggshells are as they sound: eggshells that have streaks or spots of blood on them. Eggshells can become stained with blood if the vent becomes injured or if bloody poop stains the vent area. A hen’s vent may bleed if it is stretched too much. This can occur when young hens first start laying or when a hen lays an abnormally large egg. Obese hens may also get a bloody vent when laying an egg.
More serious causes of bloody eggshells include bloody poop from coccidiosis, a prolapsed vent, or vent picking. Injury to the vent can cause eggs to be streaked with blood. Additionally, a serious mite infection may leave smears of blood on eggshells if the mites get squished when a hen lays an egg.
Normally, when a hen lays an egg, the exit were feces is usually expelled gets blocked while the egg is pushed out the vent. This prevents feces from exiting the same times as an egg. However, sometimes that mechanism is off, which can result in poopy eggs.
Poopy eggs can also occur when a hen has loose stools and the poop sticks to her vent and vent feathers. Loose stools can be a result of poor gut health, a dietary supplement, disease, or an electrolyte imbalance.
Keeping a clean coop can also prevent poopy eggs. Dirty litter in the nests can cause an egg to get poopy after it has been laid. Additionally, hens who have clean feet and feathers won’t track poop into the nests when they go to lay.
Rubbery eggs, or an egg that has not eggshell, may remind you of a frog egg. The shell membranes enclose the egg yolk and albumen, but the membranes are translucent enough for you to vaguely see the contents of the egg. There is no hard eggshell surrounding the membranes, giving the egg a squishy, rubbery feel.
Young hens who’s shell gland hasn’t fully developed may lay shell-less eggs, which is more common with pullets of hybrid egg laying breeds. If no-shell eggs become a more frequent occurrence, you may want to consider these triggers:
No-shell eggs are often followed by a drop in egg production if the trigger is a serious health concern. I don’t recommend eating no-shell eggs since there is no eggshell to protect harmful bacteria from entering the egg.
Eggs that have a soft shell will feel very fragile and the shell may even be flexible enough that you can squeeze or manipulate it, kind of like a shell-less egg. With soft shell eggs, there is usually just enough shell to enclose the egg membranes so you can’t see through the egg.
Soft shell eggs can be a result of these triggers:
Soft shell eggs can also be hereditary or laid by older hens. Again, I don’t recommend eating soft shell eggs since there isn’t a lot of eggshell to keep out bacteria. Another version of soft shelled eggs are thin-shell eggs. Thin-shell eggs will have slightly more shell surrounding the egg membranes, but the shell will feel very fragile and may even be easily punctured by your finger. Thin-shell eggs can be caused by the same reasons as soft shell eggs.
A corrugated eggshell will have a wavy, uneven surface. This is caused by damage to the shell gland in the oviduct. Rough handling of a hen can cause the shell gland to create a corrugated eggshell. Other causes of corrugated eggshells include:
Eggs with corrugated eggshells are usually safe to eat. Repeated occurrences of corrugated eggshells can be an indicator of a health issue in your flock.
Eggs with a wrinkly eggshells will appear to have tight folds in the eggshell, as opposed to the wavy curves of a corrugated eggshell. Again, wrinkly eggshells are caused by a defective shell gland. Stress and infectious bronchitis can cause the shell gland to mis-form an eggshell and result in wrinkly eggshells.
Pimpled eggshells have raised, white lumps attached to the eggshell. These are calcium deposits. Sometimes calcium deposits will cover an entire eggshell, and often times that eggshell is flakey or thin. Other times the calcium deposits are just large clumps on a normal eggshell. They often give the egg a sandpaper-like texture.
Calcium deposits may indicate an excess of calcium in a hen’s diet. When the calcium deposits are paired with a thin eggshell, there may be a mineral/calcium imbalance that is causing the calcium to not be utilized for eggshell formation. Pimpled eggshells can be hereditary and they are more commonly laid by older hens.
A mottled eggshell will have patchy coloration and thin patches in the eggshell. Parts of the eggshell will feel solid and firm while other parts will feel weak and thin. Mottled eggs can be a result of stress, disease, or lack of calcium in the diet. Mottled eggs can also be hereditary.
Eggshell color will often vary even within hens of the same breed. However, a sudden change in normal egg coloration can be caused by a few different factors. Odd-colored or suddenly speckled eggs are a result of a defective shell gland that affects how pigment is applied to the eggshell. Factors that can influence the shell gland and eggshell pigmentation include:
Odd-colored eggs are usually safe to eat. Eggs that suddenly have speckled shells are also safe to eat too. The speckling can range from complete coverage of the eggshell to only parts of the eggshell being speckled.
The oviduct is where the eggshell is formed prior to an egg being laid. In some cases, the eggshell will get cracked while the egg is still in the oviduct. The oviduct then repairs the eggshell before the egg is laid. This results in a body checked egg. You can often see the crack in the eggshell and where is was ‘healed’ in the oviduct.
An egg can get cracked in the oviduct if a hen is handled roughly, if a rooster treats a hen roughly, or if the hen gets injured, especially in the abdomen area.
Whether you’ve seen one, two, or multiple of these abnormal eggs from your homestead flock, hopefully this guide will be helpful when you find yourself collecting an egg that isn’t quite normal. From abnormal egg yolks to abnormal egg whites to abnormal eggshells… this guide has got you covered. Find out if the abnormality is just a glitch in the reproductive system or a sign of something more serious when you learn about what different egg abnormalities mean. Now that you are egg-ducated, you can take the best care of your flock no matter what kinds of eggs they throw your way!
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