Something Happened To My Chicken... Maybe...

[MiniGoatsRule]

Hey, I have a hen named Indy. I forgot what breed she is. I want to say Red Star Sex Link, but that's another one of our hens. We have a flock of 10, no 2 or more are the same breed. Unless Murdoch's lied. ANYWAY, she is shedding her neck feathers and I do not believe it is molting season. And I found an egg that I think is hers... It is a brown/tan egg with dark brown speckles on it. Normal. But it was tall and thin and had tiny weird wrinkles in one of its sides (hard to tell what one side would be. As unusual as this egg is, it is still round on the sides.) Are there any chicken people who would know what this all is?

 

[Beekissed]

Hey, I have a hen named Indy. I forgot what breed she is. I want to say Red Star Sex Link, but that's another one of our hens. We have a flock of 10, no 2 or more are the same breed. Unless Murdoch's lied. ANYWAY, she is shedding her neck feathers and I do not believe it is molting season. And I found an egg that I think is hers... It is a brown/tan egg with dark brown speckles on it. Normal. But it was tall and thin and had tiny weird wrinkles in one of its sides (hard to tell what one side would be. As unusual as this egg is, it is still round on the sides.) Are there any chicken people who would know what this all is?

Yep, it's molting season and you'll get all kinds of weird shell happenings during molting season as hormones change and nutrition is placed towards new feather growth instead of egg production. You'll see thin shells, eggs that have broken in the nest and eaten by a chicken(this does not mean you have an "egg eater" problem, it merely means a chicken cleaned up a mess), discolored or disfigured shells, etc. Then, you'll start to notice less eggs in the nest altogether, which doesn't mean they or anything else are eating them, it merely means they are molting and all their nutrition is going towards feather growth.

 

[MiniGoatsRule]

OHHHHHHHHH! It is only happening to her, and the molting is happening to our Barred Rock, Pearl. Maybe they are just early? I haven't had the egg thing happen before...

 

[Beekissed]

OHHHHHHHHH! It is only happening to her, and the molting is happening to our Barred Rock, Pearl. Maybe they are just early? I haven't had the egg thing happen before...

No, not really early...tis the season. My flock all molt at different start points and rates. Some don't molt until much later, some in July and some, after being broody, were molting in June.