One of my chickens lays a almost white egg that is rough on the outside of the shell?

Question

We have Rock Barred Hens (brown eggs). All but one is laying regular, when she does the egg is almost white with rough spots on the outer shell. The yolk is very pale and the white is runny. Any ideas why this is?

Answer 1

Either she's sick or (i don't want to dread the worst) she could have early symptoms of Bird Flu. Highly contagious to both humans and animals.

Answer 2

It could be that she is sick, or that she is also a cross with another breed of chicken.  Bumps of the outside of the shell aren't unusual, they are just calcium deposits.

You didn't say if your hens are young or not.  If they are it might just be that she is laying pullet eggs which are really weird a lot of the time with strange shapes, yolks, colors, and all that.  If your hens are older, over a year and a half, it might be that she is dropping off egg production because of age and is starting to slow down.

Some hens never lay normal eggs, I've got some that lay weird eggs all the time.  With lumps, ridges, splotches, shell bits in the yolk and albumen, odd coloration, or shell less ones.  If it's the way this hen always lays it could just be that she is a weird layer.  If it is something new she might be sick or just going through an off spell.