Tiny Chicken Eggs
My wife holds a selection of eggs
As chickens get older they lay fewer eggs. That’s why about a month ago, I blogged about the new chicks we were raising. However, recently a couple of our older hens have laid some tiny eggs.
I needed to know what the problem was and what could be done about it. Were they ill? Did they have a nutritional deficiency? It turns out that sometimes an older hen will lay a small yolkless egg near the beginning or end of her laying cycle. It usually happens when a speck of tissue breaks away from the hen’s ovary. (Hens usually have only have one functional ovary.) This stimulates the Infundibulum to treat the bit of tissue like a yolk, wrapping it in albumen, membranes, and a shell. Thus, about a day later my wife collects a tiny egg.
So, it’s entirely nature and there is nothing I can do but show them to you and our grandchildren.