Like any other day, you go out to the chicken coop to check on the ladies and give them some feed or veggies scraps.
You make it to the nesting boxes, hoping to grab some delicious, fresh eggs (or, butt nuggets as we like to call them!) and you find the weirdest little egg you’ve ever seen.
It looks like it might be a fifth of the size, or smaller, of a normal egg.
For a second, you might even think a random wild bird might have gotten a bit drunk off the neighbor’s unattended Mojito and somehow stumbled into your chicken coop……
Why Is My Chicken Laying Tiny, Yolkless “Fairy” Eggs?
Luckily, you do not have the egg of a drunken, confused wild bird. No, what you DO have is an incredibly fascinating “fairy egg”!
So, uhm, what exactly is a fairy egg, and why are your chickens laying them?
Firstly, I do want you to know that they are fairly rare, and usually due to an underlying circumstance.
Don’t be alarmed, as they are not usually an indicator of bad health. Rather, they indicate a life change of some type in most cases.
Welcome to Henhood: Pullets Might Lay Yolkless Fairy Eggs!
When pullets are trying to obtain that lovely title of “hen”, they might lay a few of these white-only eggs in the process. As their little bodies are trying to figure out how to make a proper egg, they might slip up and not produce a yolk for the egg.
These eggs are okay to eat, albeit weird and tiny. Most people choose not to eat them, as they just don’t look appetizing or normal. As the days go by, these young pullets will eventually begin to lay normal eggs most of the time. The fairy eggs will generally become rare or nonexistent.
So, cherish them while you’re getting them! They probably won’t last long; and you might only see one, ever!
A Molting Hen Has Bigger Priorities Than Eggs, or So It Seems!
When a hen goes through a molt, her body is under a lot of pressure to forge through the process while keeping the hen healthy. Losing all of her feathers and growing healthy, new replacements is very taxing on the hen’s body. Laying an egg every day is, too.
Therefore, mid-molt is a prime time to find tiny fairy eggs. The hen’s body must dedicate its resources and reserves to produce healthy feathers in order to protect the hen during imminent weather and from parasites. Reproduction is put on the back burner during this time. If you notice that one of your hens is looking rather homely and unkempt, I would think that she would be the provider of the tiny egg.
It simply means that the hen may need to take it a little easier and eat a little more at meal time to gather those extra nutrients. Now, this does not imply anything negative in regards to the care of your hens; it’s just that the hen’s body is going through a massive overhaul. Much like when people give birth and nurse their infants. No matter how well we care for ourselves, birth can leave a woman in poor condition; whether she has an extremely low iron or RBC count, other deficiencies, or extreme fatigue, no amount of extra vitamins or exercise will “quick fix” or “bandaid” the situation.
Is Your Hen a Tired Old Girl?
Other than the previous two circumstances, older hens are the next likely culprit. While hens can lay until the day that they die of old age, they can and will produce fewer eggs with a potential reduction in quality. Eggs might be yolkless, small, thin shelled, or they might even lack the shell entirely! If you get thin or soft shells, try offering your hens some milk or oyster shells.
The hen’s reproduction system is simply past its prime once the hen closes in on 5 years of age. It will not operate in the same way that it would as a young, healthy hen who just started to lay recently. A great diet, clean coop, and parasite free body can definitely help to postpone the situation, but old age and its symptoms cannot be prevented unfortunately. Instead, enjoy these unique little fairy eggs when your older hens offer them to you!
And Sometimes, It Just…. Happens!
These little “egg white only” eggs are such an intriguing occurrence on the homestead, and sometimes, they disappear just as mysteriously as they appeared. You may never know why they happened, perhaps all of your hens are mature yet young, in great health, and are well outside of their molts.
Maybe they have lived happy, stress free lives, without so much as enduring a bedding change in the coop or a thunderstorm; and still, a fairy egg appeared.
As long as your ladies are perfectly healthy and happy, don’t worry about these odd little marvels! The egg factory can glitch out sometimes, as you may have noticed with spotting, elongated eggs, imperfections in the shell’s texture, and more.
Now that you really think about it, you may realize that these beautifully imperfect eggs truly are normal, even though their imperfections can vary in many different ways!
