We’re still finding shell-less and soft-shelled (rubber) eggs, eggs smashed from dropping onto the poop board (like they just fell out of the roosting hens) and, today, a very strange-looking egg.
Check out the photo of the egg – it’s larger than average (“normal” egg shown for comparison), and wrinkly. There are many possible reasons for a hen to lay an egg that looks like this, but at this point, it just seems like a pullet’s reproductive system is working out the kinks. The size of the egg suggests it may be a double-yolker – we’ll know soon enough. With the pullets now reaching egg-laying age, there will definitely be more egg oddities!
Our red-eyed white (REW) New Zealand doe, Ava, kindled on Sunday. She tends to pull fur at the last minute, so we knew something was up when we saw the nest box lined with white fur. The kits were completely hidden from sight, but slight movement beneath the fur indicated the babies had arrived.
We’ve been wondering if the strange egg activity lately signaled the beginning of the oldest group of pullets to lay, and today’s finding – another miniature egg – confirmed it.
We’ve noticed some egg strangeness lately. The other day, what looked like a yolk had been dropped on the poop board. This morning, we found two shell-less eggs (which look like rubbery water balloons) on the poop board. And a “fart” egg – a tiny egg that usually is composed of just egg white – odd but interesting.
Coraline’s ducklings are just over two weeks old now, and they’re healthy, active, worm-eating machines! Since the weather’s been so wet, the worms are practically crawling into our hands, so it doesn’t take much effort to collect quite a few for the ducklings.
