GINORMOUS egg... Done harm?

[Cab]

My better half got home before I did this evening, and the first thing she told me was not to worry. But I'm a little bit worried.

Charlie our leghorn, still a youngster (been laying since we got her in September) laid an ostrich egg. Its 100g in weight, comfortably bigger than anything else she'd laid (she's good for a 60g egg, regular as clockwork, nearly every day). Her last day off was the day before yesterday, she laid a normal egg yesterday, then today she's come out with this.

No obvious sign of blood in the next box, her back end is clean, and apparently she was acting like nothing was amiss... but there's clotted blood on the egg.

I would assume she'll be okay, and this isn't the first time we've had a surprise whopper from them - young hens will do this kind of thing. But I've never seen as much blood on the outside of an egg.

Anything we ought to do for her? Should we maybe expect her to take some time out from laying to recover?

Cheers,

Cab.

 

[Marigold]

It sounds as if she's all right - but ouch!
So long as there's no prolapse and no blood is coming from her vent she will be in no danger of being pecked. I've found they usually lay a bigger egg if they miss a day, so it was a bit surprising she did lay yesterday. I would just keep an eye on her - if nothing appears to be actually wrong with her there's not much you could do anyway. At least it didn't get stuck!
There's always the danger of prolapse when pullets lay enormous eggs, but she seems to have escaped that, this time anyway. Let's hope she doesn't make a habit of it.

 

[Cab]

Thanks Marigold!

Yes, we often get bigger eggs after a day off, not usually from Charlie though.

No sign of a prolapse or damage, so I'll keep an eye on her. I would say she's earned a day or two off if she wants

 

[Cab]

Seems to me she's fine

Perfectly normal egg today, no blood on it, no damage visible at her back end (and she was most put-out that I was inspecting her).

They're amazing animals. How they manage to pass a normal egg most days is beyond me, how they get by with these occasional monsters is a complete mystery

 

[Marigold]

That's a relief, hope she's learned her lesson.