Sometimes, for reasons I don't completely understand, one of the hens will lay a whacky egg. The other day I found this wrinkly monstrosity:
I'd love to know who was responsible!
Inside it was just fine.
We've had an outbreak of scaly leg mite in the coop, which is upsetting but treatable. We followed the advice of Lynn at Razzberry Corners and dipped everybody's legs into an Adams Plus Pyrethrin Dip solution. The chickens were very cooperative. I think I am going to try massage Vaseline or oil into their legs as well, to improve the condition of their skin. Fortunately they don't look too horrific at these point. An infestation of scaly leg mites can get really ugly!
As I understand it, scaly leg mites aren't life-threatening for the chickens, but they are uncomfortable and make the legs itch. We'll keep an eye on things and re-treat in a few weeks if needed. I can't change out all their bedding right now (we use the deep-litter method) so we used food-grade diatomaceous earth all over the coop, cleaned out the nest boxes, dusted the perches and put in three new bags of shavings.
I have read that you can put a mixture of kerosene and linseed oil on the perches, but I am NOT putting a flammable substance in the coop!!
And that's your chicken news for today
Hi Nat - First of all - That egg!!! OMG! That egg is the freakyist thing I've ever seen!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the laugh!
I'm glad all went well when you were treating your birds. It's easy to treat them with that dip. The Vaseline is just nasty. We keep a jar of it out in the coop supply area to rub on their legs every now and then to improve the condition of their skin (aren't we all just nice chicken mamas??), but eveything gets stuck to their legs - poop, litter, dirt, you name it. It makes a MAJOR MESS on their legs! It's almost funny.
I looked at your ugly leg mite pictures - wow! We need to retreat asap, I don't want anyone to look that THAT!!!
~Lynn
Nat - I hope you don't mind, but because I LOVE this egg so much, I'm putting a link to it on my blog post today!!!
ReplyDeleteLynn, link away! in fact, feel free to steal the photo and slap it up there!!
ReplyDeleteThat eggshell was hard, but wow, the wrinkles.
Lynn, maybe not Vaseline then. Or maybe just a very THIN coat. :) Or if I need a good laugh, a thick coat!
ReplyDeleteTina Turner is the worst off, with her feathery legs. :(
I came to visit from Deb's blog and I'm stayin!! Enjoyed all the posts about syrup making. That egg is so weird! I have friends who have some chickens and I love when they share eggs with me. Love your blog. hugs, Linda
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the wrinkly egg, the first thing that came to mind was a calcium deficiency. Are all the hens getting sufficient calcium?
ReplyDeleteMy female cockatiel laid several strange-looking eggs once -- one with a huge dimple, an elongated egg, a pear-shaped egg, and several perfectly spherical eggs -- and I attributed this to excessive egg-laying. Once I reduced the number of hours of light she received, her eggs went back to normal, and eventually she stopped laying. Thank goodness -- all those eggs were too much stress on her little body.
It's a good thought, Ahab. I do give them oyster shells regularly (always available in the coop), plus they are on a nice organic feed, and they get grit too. Everybody else's eggs are fine, but maybe this hen isn't getting enough calcium. It would be good if I could figure out who laid it!
ReplyDeleteWe do get some weirdo eggs at times: stretched out, pointy, dimply, a little wrinkly... but this one was an extreme example! :)
Linda, thanks for visiting! Mot of our eggs seems just fine, but every once in a while some hen has a bad day. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen we had chickens we'd get a wrinkly egg every so often. My nanny and papa still have chickens and its not uncommon. I'm not sure exactly what causes it, maybe just how the chicken's system is working that particular day.
ReplyDeleteI bet there's a market out there for whacky eggs. Wonder if she's just a little depressed about this cold weather. So sorry to hear that the girls are being plagued by mites - with any luck your treatments will work quickly and they'll feel better very soon.
ReplyDeleteLeave it to you to show us something we've never seen before (least I haven't). That egg is so neat. Weird but neat all the same.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the infestation. A lot of extra work for a hard working lady. Hope it clears up soon.
Now I've never seen an egg like that before Knatolee
ReplyDeleteLooks kinda like a brain. This is your egg inside a brain...
ReplyDeleteJames, it does! It does look like a brain! "This is your brain. THis is your brain cracked open and dumped into a metal bowl..."
ReplyDelete