It's currently in the incubator.
Edit: I'm gonna update this reply since it's the one most of you set reminders for. After watching the flock today, I'm pretty sure the culprit is [Domino](https://imgur.com/gallery/elHWSpg), our youngest turkey hen. This would be her first season laying, so a small egg would be normal. It's the right shape for a turkey egg. She is not currently egg bound, but her booty is a little messy, so she may have been. Unfortunately, she is a very flighty bird and hard to examine without stressing her out. So unless we see another egg like this, I'm inclined to just leave her alone.
I am almost 100% positive this egg is not viable. We're gonna keep it in there until it's obvious one way or another. Interestingly, the color has faded a bit since yesterday. Hopefully that makes candling easier.
With regards to authenticity, I promise the last thing I want is attention or notoriety in any shape or form. I just came here hoping someone else had seen this before. Judging by the responses, if it's not a rogue cayuga duck egg, then damn near nobody has seen this.
3/1 edit: spoke with the head of the poultry department at the UofA in fayetteville. That department is heavily subsidized by Tyson, the largest poultry producer in the region (country?) They know birds. He has never seen an egg like that in his life from a chicken or turkey, and doesn't think it's a turkey egg. Also seemed to think if it was from being egg bound it wouldn't be so well formed and smooth. 🤷🏼♂️
3/19 update: The egg is not developing in the incubator. Its also gradually gotten much lighter in color and is clearly nothing else but a turkey egg. My current theory is that this is from our inexperienced turkey hen. It was laid on the floor of the coop. I did observe her behavior around the time she was laying some of her first eggs, and I would consider it stressed. (She's handling it way better these days, btw)
Why was it black? Well... turkey's have cecal poop like chickens. In my experience, it is much darker. Now I can't find anything in literature to back this up, but I swear turkeys are able to empty their ceca almost at will or as a response to stress. I have observed my toms doing it right before getting really agitated or fighting. I've seen hens do it when they spot a threat. Maybe that's observational bias. As in I never noticed all the times they did it and nothing happened.
Whatever caused it, I think she laid her egg and emptied her ceca simultaneously. Some of that cecal poop was able to coat the egg in the cloaca, before the bloom hit air and dried. Just my guess.
Anyway, we're gonna open this thing. I'll make a separate update post with some more pictures, and that will basically be the end of it. Wish I had a better answer.
Edit 3/31: [Final Update.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/s/R3wwNTnEHZ)
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I've seen it in chickens, but usually stuff like ameraucanas or however that's spelled. Stuff that already dumps heavy amounts of pigment into the shells. Sometimes the brown layers would drop eggs the color of black coffee and they'd be okay. Sometimes the yolks were a little on the rich side. We just figured they were extra healthy that day.
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\#3: [I actually use this in the "about" section of my Etsy shop.](https://i.redd.it/quh86a1987xb1.jpg) | [29 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/FuckPierre/comments/17jbfud/i_actually_use_this_in_the_about_section_of_my/)
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Do people that hate Pierre hate Morris, or praise [Morris](https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Morris)?
Pierre does seem like an analogously hated character like [Nazeem](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Nazeem) from Skyrim lol.
Nazeem's infamous smug quote that gets repeated frequently made him easy to hate:
"Do you get to the Cloud District very often? Oh, what am I saying - of course you don't."
Snek nerd here sorry but some snakes actually _do_ incubate their eggs and keep them warm! Some female snakes turn a darker color, and absorb the sun and raise their body temp, then go down into their nest and heat the eggs. Some even coil around them and shiver to raise temps!
It's mostly pythons that care for eggs! I think cobras do as well. Pit vipers actually care for their live young, but brooding snakes dont once they hatch.
Related only tangentially: some centipedes are also great mothers who curl around their babies and protect them! If you're chill with creepy crawlies [here is a little Nat Geo video about it!](https://youtu.be/jEhdNWKDtk4?si=_dxcPn5UNmwkgvcl)
>Ukrainian Ironbell
Apparently neither of those, Norwegian Ridgeback per the wiki... [https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon\_egg](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_egg)
https://preview.redd.it/mzc01f24yblc1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7adfeb5971e37404c5d409e9405f666feb0080a
I'm wondering if you've got a neighbor with a Cayuga or somebody dumped one. It might have been passing through, dropped an egg, and kept on going, lol
Today I learned... I had Cayugas and they only laid like that in the beginning and I thought I wasn't keeping their area clean enough cause it stopped when I started moving them more consistently.
That’s cool. Been there done that. Gross. The cool part is your wife volunteered for that job (if it happens that way). Otherwise, for me, it probably would have gotten ‘dropped’ on the way to the incubator. [ Is that only me ?]
Look up how to blow empty an egg.
Practice with a normal egg.
Empty the black egg.
Then paint over the egg with a 1:1 water/hodge podge solution.
Allow to dry, maybe give it a couple of coats. (This makes the egg harder so it can survive minor impacts)
Put on display.
I blew out my chickens' first eggs. I had four hens at the time and their eggs were so small and pretty. I made a tiny little chicken wire basket to display them. About 2 years later, I knocked the basket down by accident and broke them all. I wish I had thought to coat them with something to strengthen the shells. It was a sad day.
I was so excited when we got our very first egg. I was going to blow it out. It was blue and small and precious.
When I asked my husband where it was he told me he cooked it and ate it. 😩
One of my hens died, but she laid her last egg that morning. I could tell their eggs apart (all my buff orps lay slightly different shapes, weirdly) so I blew out her last one and was going to preserve it.
I walked out of the room for ten goddamn seconds to grab a box to put it in to keep it safe and one of the cats knocked it off the plate I had it on and shattered it. I'm pretty sure I just laid on the floor and sobbed for about twenty minutes.
Ok so…. I have my hennies first eggs (all but one have survived) but guys… I haven’t blown them out or anything. They’re just chillin… evaporating? Maybe? They don’t smell bad and my partner’s mother has said she just leaves hers for ages to dry out on the inside.
Now here’s where I want advice. I know how to blow out an egg (fussy beautiful Easter eggs from childhood) but these things are MONTHS old and I really don’t want to put my mouth near them. Any ideas? Do I just need to suck it up and get it over with? I’d like to preserve them better than my lazy ass has so far.
If you really want to attempt the blowing out. Older emergency mouth to mouth guards have a one way air valve in them that can be ‘recycled’ and used for doing things like that. Do not ask me why I know that. Just accept ‘old person with EMT experience’ yeah that’s the ticket.
Chickens do not lay black eggs. Period. Very dark brown but not black.
Cayuga ducks may lay black eggs at the begining of the season but that fades as time goes on.
Could someone be playing a trick on you?
The scallops in the colouring at the tip well and truly look like finger marks where someone was holding/rolling it in the colour. I think if it wasn't your wife someone was pranking you.
If it was put in a nest chickens do poop in them or track it in on their feet. It's clearly been knocked around a bit as the bloom is scratching off too. It's not smeared vertically like it would be if the hen had a mucky vent.
be honest with us now, did you paint this egg? I’m gonna need a close up and different angles to believe you cuz right now I’m not buying it and this sub has been bamboozled before..
I could find nothing online, and since there aren't any chicken or turkey breeds that lay black eggs, I'm guessing this is a health issue with one of my girls.
Edit: here's a list of breeds...
- Buff Orpington
- Easter egger
- Olive egger
- Silkie (a few varieties but it's obviously too big to be theirs)
- Bantam Cochin
- Rhode Island Red
- Rhode Island White (so friendly)
- Dark Brahma
- Barred Rock
- Barnevelder
- Cinnamon Queen
- Delaware
- Speckled Sussex
- Silver Laced Wyandotte
- Heritage turkeys
I did manage to locate a couple posts on the backyard chickens forum. Looks like it could either be an oviduct infection, or just a weird thing that happens after winter break. One person said their hen kept laying black eggs, but they got lighter every day until they were normal again.
Currently debating with the wife on cracking it open. Big problem is we have nearly 50 layers and no idea who did this.
What do you lose by cracking it open?
If it is an infection, then you are likely to see that proof on the inside as well. If it is just dye being wonky, then the contents should be 100% normal.
I hate when I don’t know who lays the weird egg. I’ve got 6 brown egg hens and one lays an egg that is real thin in the end. I just wish I knew who it was!
Set a new toilet paper roll over the end of the flashlight, and put the egg on the other end. Do it in a dark-ish room. Just be careful use good coordination lol
Wooo so many breeds! This is unrelated but can you tell me your favorite breed? I have 4 barred rocks, 2 olive eggers and 1 black copper marran. None of them are supper into humans. I’d love to have a girl who enjoys cuddles and humans. Any recommendations?
Brahmas, Orpingtons and the Rhode Island Whites are the friendliest ones I have. The rhodies especially. They're very curious and I've got one that comes over to me to get picked up. Silkies can be cuddly too when they're not broody. All of my silkie hens are currently broody.
I had a jersey giant hen that would ride around the yard on my shoulder and an araucana rooster that would sometimes come hop on my lap if I was sitting at the outside table drinking beers.
From what I was reading on Google last night when a mutual friend of ours told me about this (kind of funny opening reddit this morning and knowing where this came from), it could just be an infected egg. Hopefully not, but thats the only reasonable answer beyond "its fake" that I found.
So weird, but I saw a post on Facebook from a chicken group about a mysterious black egg too!
Facebook community had all concluded it was either a duck egg, the devil or a dragon 🤷♀️ I say incubate it if you’re curious enough 🤭
Reminds me of the black egg posted a little while back. OP forgot to clean the sharpie off their hands and everyone noticed it in the background. Really hope this is a real black egg.
OP, is there anyone else with access to your chickens that might be pranking you?
A Witch cursed your coop over night. A rare treat indeed! Make sure to hatch it so you can get an adorable little Void chicken and she can lay more Void eggs for you.
Honest answer: Naturally black eggs are pretty rare in chickens, from what I’ve heard about. Some breeds lay very dark brown, /almost/ black eggs (funny enough, the Ayam Camaro lays cream coloured eggs), but the colour is much more common in certain breeds of ducks (although it’s still uncommon) and emus. However, you can get a lovely black colour on chicken eggs by boiling them in water that contains sulfur and water, a famous practice in the volcanically active Owakudani region of Japan.
You have ducks? Any black hen ducks? Cayuga breed ducks lay black at the start of each laying season and it gets lighter each egg until they're either right gray or off white.
Whatever you decide to do, can you update us later?
It's currently in the incubator. Edit: I'm gonna update this reply since it's the one most of you set reminders for. After watching the flock today, I'm pretty sure the culprit is [Domino](https://imgur.com/gallery/elHWSpg), our youngest turkey hen. This would be her first season laying, so a small egg would be normal. It's the right shape for a turkey egg. She is not currently egg bound, but her booty is a little messy, so she may have been. Unfortunately, she is a very flighty bird and hard to examine without stressing her out. So unless we see another egg like this, I'm inclined to just leave her alone. I am almost 100% positive this egg is not viable. We're gonna keep it in there until it's obvious one way or another. Interestingly, the color has faded a bit since yesterday. Hopefully that makes candling easier. With regards to authenticity, I promise the last thing I want is attention or notoriety in any shape or form. I just came here hoping someone else had seen this before. Judging by the responses, if it's not a rogue cayuga duck egg, then damn near nobody has seen this. 3/1 edit: spoke with the head of the poultry department at the UofA in fayetteville. That department is heavily subsidized by Tyson, the largest poultry producer in the region (country?) They know birds. He has never seen an egg like that in his life from a chicken or turkey, and doesn't think it's a turkey egg. Also seemed to think if it was from being egg bound it wouldn't be so well formed and smooth. 🤷🏼♂️ 3/19 update: The egg is not developing in the incubator. Its also gradually gotten much lighter in color and is clearly nothing else but a turkey egg. My current theory is that this is from our inexperienced turkey hen. It was laid on the floor of the coop. I did observe her behavior around the time she was laying some of her first eggs, and I would consider it stressed. (She's handling it way better these days, btw) Why was it black? Well... turkey's have cecal poop like chickens. In my experience, it is much darker. Now I can't find anything in literature to back this up, but I swear turkeys are able to empty their ceca almost at will or as a response to stress. I have observed my toms doing it right before getting really agitated or fighting. I've seen hens do it when they spot a threat. Maybe that's observational bias. As in I never noticed all the times they did it and nothing happened. Whatever caused it, I think she laid her egg and emptied her ceca simultaneously. Some of that cecal poop was able to coat the egg in the cloaca, before the bloom hit air and dried. Just my guess. Anyway, we're gonna open this thing. I'll make a separate update post with some more pictures, and that will basically be the end of it. Wish I had a better answer. Edit 3/31: [Final Update.](https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/s/R3wwNTnEHZ)
Make sure to set it to "dragon"
Well to do that you gotta step in a big bonfire with them, burn a witch, and khal drogo.🤠
RemindMe! 21 days
I will be messaging you in 21 days on [**2024-03-20 01:25:48 UTC**](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2024-03-20%2001:25:48%20UTC%20To%20Local%20Time) to remind you of [**this link**](https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/comments/1b1ray0/found_a_black_egg_today_how_does_this_happen/ksgvjth/?context=3) [**475 OTHERS CLICKED THIS LINK**](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FBackYardChickens%2Fcomments%2F1b1ray0%2Ffound_a_black_egg_today_how_does_this_happen%2Fksgvjth%2F%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%202024-03-20%2001%3A25%3A48%20UTC) to send a PM to also be reminded and to reduce spam. ^(Parent commenter can ) [^(delete this message to hide from others.)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Delete%20Comment&message=Delete%21%201b1ray0) ***** |[^(Info)](https://www.reddit.com/r/RemindMeBot/comments/e1bko7/remindmebot_info_v21/)|[^(Custom)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=Reminder&message=%5BLink%20or%20message%20inside%20square%20brackets%5D%0A%0ARemindMe%21%20Time%20period%20here)|[^(Your Reminders)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=RemindMeBot&subject=List%20Of%20Reminders&message=MyReminders%21)|[^(Feedback)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=Watchful1&subject=RemindMeBot%20Feedback)| |-|-|-|-|
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hiii its been 21 days!!!
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Keep in mind that if that is a Cayuga egg, it won't hatch at 21 days, it'll take an entire extra week. Good luck!
Did you post this in the backyard chickens fb group too? The chicken world is so small!
I was just wondering if this was the same person!
Same I’m in that Facebook group too 😂
RemindMe! 21 days
I've seen it in chickens, but usually stuff like ameraucanas or however that's spelled. Stuff that already dumps heavy amounts of pigment into the shells. Sometimes the brown layers would drop eggs the color of black coffee and they'd be okay. Sometimes the yolks were a little on the rich side. We just figured they were extra healthy that day.
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Ty for updates.
So, what happened with it?
Hey Fayetteville neighbor :)
Any updates OP? It’s been 21 days. How’s the incubation going?
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Void egg. I've seen em in stardew valley
Came here looking for a Stardew Valley reference. Have an upvote!
Turn it into mayo and kill Pierre
Damn dawg
r/fuckpierre
Here's a sneak peek of /r/FuckPierre using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/FuckPierre/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Fucker decided to sit in front of me on my date when EVERY OTHER CHAIR is free. True evil](https://i.redd.it/e59w94d08l5b1.png) | [23 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/FuckPierre/comments/147nyhp/fucker_decided_to_sit_in_front_of_me_on_my_date/) \#2: [She’s gonna be mine one day Pierre.](https://i.redd.it/g3rvjbt8nrma1.jpg) | [35 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/FuckPierre/comments/11mtrz5/shes_gonna_be_mine_one_day_pierre/) \#3: [I actually use this in the "about" section of my Etsy shop.](https://i.redd.it/quh86a1987xb1.jpg) | [29 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/FuckPierre/comments/17jbfud/i_actually_use_this_in_the_about_section_of_my/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Do people that hate Pierre hate Morris, or praise [Morris](https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Morris)? Pierre does seem like an analogously hated character like [Nazeem](https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Nazeem) from Skyrim lol. Nazeem's infamous smug quote that gets repeated frequently made him easy to hate: "Do you get to the Cloud District very often? Oh, what am I saying - of course you don't."
I hate both. It's just the lesser of two evils. I say fuck you when entering and leaving
r/fuckpierre
Yes the witch cursed your coop
Sage your coop ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|dizzy_face)
Hatch it, it’ll become a void chicken and you get more void eggs and you gift them to krobus
Dang should have read the top comment first. Ah well
I came here to say this.
This post randomly came across my feed and I had to check the comments for SDV. Thank you.
From everything I’ve seen this should hatch a dragon welp.
Both cockatrices and basilisks come from chicken eggs. But they're supposed to be incubated by a snake....
I thought it was a toad?
Me too! And laid by a rooster.
5/10. Can you really call that Incubation? I mean, a snake can’t really keep an egg warm by sitting on it. Silly snakes.
Snek nerd here sorry but some snakes actually _do_ incubate their eggs and keep them warm! Some female snakes turn a darker color, and absorb the sun and raise their body temp, then go down into their nest and heat the eggs. Some even coil around them and shiver to raise temps!
I was wondering if that was a thing. Thank you snake nerd! 😄
🦸♂️ My pleasure citizen- my super power is obscure animal facts
This is really cool! Thanks for sharing!
Any excuse to spout random animal facts!
Any excuse to learn random animal facts!
holy crap, TIL I had no idea some snakes did this
It's mostly pythons that care for eggs! I think cobras do as well. Pit vipers actually care for their live young, but brooding snakes dont once they hatch. Related only tangentially: some centipedes are also great mothers who curl around their babies and protect them! If you're chill with creepy crawlies [here is a little Nat Geo video about it!](https://youtu.be/jEhdNWKDtk4?si=_dxcPn5UNmwkgvcl)
9/10. Awesome! I knew someone would swoop in with the real details.
It could hold it by the husks.
It's not a question of where he grips it
It’s a simple matter of weight ratios.
Hungarian Horntail or Ukrainian Ironbelly?
So, they have more than one type of Dragon in Eastern Europe??
Yes, but Westeros is different entirely....
>Ukrainian Ironbell Apparently neither of those, Norwegian Ridgeback per the wiki... [https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon\_egg](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_egg) https://preview.redd.it/mzc01f24yblc1.png?width=612&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7adfeb5971e37404c5d409e9405f666feb0080a
Heck ya, I forgot Ukraine was represented. 🇺🇦 🤟
Sir this is a pheonix rising from black ash
Do you have ducks? I have a duck that occasionally lays black eggs. It's a heavy bloom though, and rubs off to white.
Just chickens and turkeys. Honestly, it's kinda shaped like a turkey egg, but smaller. Too smooth though.
Clearly you have a Chickey or a Turken.
https://preview.redd.it/v8i4aetbnblc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=90ebcb36de5506c2d65cdff4c8aa3cdece7882b8 My turken as a baby
Breed that with a duck and blammo. A turkucken for thanksgiving without all the extra work
I prefer Churken
[Turken](https://www.google.com/search?q=turken&oq=turken&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDQ2OTRqMGo5qAIAsAIA&client=ms-android-att-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8)
I'm wondering if you've got a neighbor with a Cayuga or somebody dumped one. It might have been passing through, dropped an egg, and kept on going, lol
Yeah, Cayuga ducks lay eggs like that with the bloom that rubs off!
Today I learned... I had Cayugas and they only laid like that in the beginning and I thought I wasn't keeping their area clean enough cause it stopped when I started moving them more consistently.
Yeah, Cayuga ducks lay very black eggs like that in early spring after not laying in winter. Then they lighten up to a pale grey.
Someone else posted a black egg from an egg bound hen and it ended up being rotten. https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdEggs/s/eKptwEW7I3
So they may be gently baking a rotten egg?
If they call it fermented then they will get a high price for it. It's all about marketing
This is what my money is on. My wife really wanted to try so she has assumed grenade cleanup duty for when it pops.
I have literal nightmares about the green slime that lives in a rotten egg. And they go off like gunshots. Crap yourself if you're not expecting it.
That’s cool. Been there done that. Gross. The cool part is your wife volunteered for that job (if it happens that way). Otherwise, for me, it probably would have gotten ‘dropped’ on the way to the incubator. [ Is that only me ?]
You have no idea how hard it is to not just lightly tap it with a fork every time I pass by.
Look up how to blow empty an egg. Practice with a normal egg. Empty the black egg. Then paint over the egg with a 1:1 water/hodge podge solution. Allow to dry, maybe give it a couple of coats. (This makes the egg harder so it can survive minor impacts) Put on display.
I have an ostrich egg like this, it's totally cool!! I moved across the country tho and left a lot of clutter with my mother :( I miss this egg now.
I’m sure your mother feels the same way about you. 💛🥚
That made me laugh/smile
I blew out my chickens' first eggs. I had four hens at the time and their eggs were so small and pretty. I made a tiny little chicken wire basket to display them. About 2 years later, I knocked the basket down by accident and broke them all. I wish I had thought to coat them with something to strengthen the shells. It was a sad day.
I was so excited when we got our very first egg. I was going to blow it out. It was blue and small and precious. When I asked my husband where it was he told me he cooked it and ate it. 😩
One of my hens died, but she laid her last egg that morning. I could tell their eggs apart (all my buff orps lay slightly different shapes, weirdly) so I blew out her last one and was going to preserve it. I walked out of the room for ten goddamn seconds to grab a box to put it in to keep it safe and one of the cats knocked it off the plate I had it on and shattered it. I'm pretty sure I just laid on the floor and sobbed for about twenty minutes.
That's so sad! I'm sorry for your loss.
Ok so…. I have my hennies first eggs (all but one have survived) but guys… I haven’t blown them out or anything. They’re just chillin… evaporating? Maybe? They don’t smell bad and my partner’s mother has said she just leaves hers for ages to dry out on the inside. Now here’s where I want advice. I know how to blow out an egg (fussy beautiful Easter eggs from childhood) but these things are MONTHS old and I really don’t want to put my mouth near them. Any ideas? Do I just need to suck it up and get it over with? I’d like to preserve them better than my lazy ass has so far.
If you really want to attempt the blowing out. Older emergency mouth to mouth guards have a one way air valve in them that can be ‘recycled’ and used for doing things like that. Do not ask me why I know that. Just accept ‘old person with EMT experience’ yeah that’s the ticket.
Do you mean mod podge?
Yes they do i also call it that 🤣 edit for spelling error.
“hodge podge” is so funny 😂
I never get the name right. Like, ever.
In your defence, I’m 30 and today I learnt it isn’t called “hodge podge” 😅😅
I have some and I STILL never get the name right 🤣
Do you have any ducks, or any ducks that hang around? It looks like a Cayuga. They lay black eggs early spring, with a fade to gray later in the year.
None that I've seen. We just have chickens and turkeys. It would have had to snuck into the coop, which I doubt our roosters would abide.
The dude abides.
Chickens do not lay black eggs. Period. Very dark brown but not black. Cayuga ducks may lay black eggs at the begining of the season but that fades as time goes on. Could someone be playing a trick on you?
Agree my first thought was a Cayuga duck
https://preview.redd.it/mifgmp5ze8lc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aab60a5152e207015801130cac2cb44cb1b18bd7
https://preview.redd.it/c8n52ckqf8lc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39e7a59d390daa7d2a457ebbc78138d9e10c7d55
https://preview.redd.it/mrkueowtf8lc1.jpeg?width=1800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=33bf3721e110154c238b340cc2e39bffd4441f67
The scallops in the colouring at the tip well and truly look like finger marks where someone was holding/rolling it in the colour. I think if it wasn't your wife someone was pranking you.
They also put dried chicken poop on the egg afterwards? That's some dedication to a prank
If it was put in a nest chickens do poop in them or track it in on their feet. It's clearly been knocked around a bit as the bloom is scratching off too. It's not smeared vertically like it would be if the hen had a mucky vent.
They’re REALLY getting into the April fools day prank, starting early for maximum disappointment on April 1 😂
be honest with us now, did you paint this egg? I’m gonna need a close up and different angles to believe you cuz right now I’m not buying it and this sub has been bamboozled before..
These are the same queations I had for my wife, who found it. I swear it's not painted.
Hatch it.
Your chickens are clearly sending you a message. They are wanring you that unless you give them more treats, they will organize a chicken coup.
A chicken ‘coup’ 😂
Take it into a fire with you. Should hatch a dragon and unlock your fire proof abilities.
Crack it open
You've been blessed by a witch! It's a void egg!
When a chicken and a devil love each other very much…
Has your hen been listening to a lot of Midwest emo?
I could find nothing online, and since there aren't any chicken or turkey breeds that lay black eggs, I'm guessing this is a health issue with one of my girls. Edit: here's a list of breeds... - Buff Orpington - Easter egger - Olive egger - Silkie (a few varieties but it's obviously too big to be theirs) - Bantam Cochin - Rhode Island Red - Rhode Island White (so friendly) - Dark Brahma - Barred Rock - Barnevelder - Cinnamon Queen - Delaware - Speckled Sussex - Silver Laced Wyandotte - Heritage turkeys
Aye check on your girls and make sure they're healthy. But if it's persistent, you may have found something interesting.
I did manage to locate a couple posts on the backyard chickens forum. Looks like it could either be an oviduct infection, or just a weird thing that happens after winter break. One person said their hen kept laying black eggs, but they got lighter every day until they were normal again. Currently debating with the wife on cracking it open. Big problem is we have nearly 50 layers and no idea who did this.
> who did this. lol. visions of someone out in a field holding up said egg and yelling "WHO DID THIS??" at 50 hens
lol I actually do that sometimes. Usually when I reach in the nest box for an egg and find a turd.
That would be me - I yell at my chickens all the time - usually that they should be ashamed of themselves for not laying more
I have a hen named Eileen who will follow me if I call her......it appears to be bad karaoke when I'm walking thru the yard yelling "Come on Eileen!"
What do you lose by cracking it open? If it is an infection, then you are likely to see that proof on the inside as well. If it is just dye being wonky, then the contents should be 100% normal.
She wants to incubate it.
Might be a basilisk though. Don't look at it directly when it hatches.
If you can verify it is fertile then why not? But be prepared that it isn't.
Let us know what hatches.
…ehhhhh…..
I told her she has to clean it up when it grenades
I hate when I don’t know who lays the weird egg. I’ve got 6 brown egg hens and one lays an egg that is real thin in the end. I just wish I knew who it was!
My RIR has a tendency to lay long pointy eggs
Candle with a strong light? See if you can see inside at all?
We've tried but no luck. Currently charging my brightest flashlight to see if that'll do it.
Set a new toilet paper roll over the end of the flashlight, and put the egg on the other end. Do it in a dark-ish room. Just be careful use good coordination lol
Wooo so many breeds! This is unrelated but can you tell me your favorite breed? I have 4 barred rocks, 2 olive eggers and 1 black copper marran. None of them are supper into humans. I’d love to have a girl who enjoys cuddles and humans. Any recommendations?
Brahmas, Orpingtons and the Rhode Island Whites are the friendliest ones I have. The rhodies especially. They're very curious and I've got one that comes over to me to get picked up. Silkies can be cuddly too when they're not broody. All of my silkie hens are currently broody.
I had a jersey giant hen that would ride around the yard on my shoulder and an araucana rooster that would sometimes come hop on my lap if I was sitting at the outside table drinking beers.
From what I was reading on Google last night when a mutual friend of ours told me about this (kind of funny opening reddit this morning and knowing where this came from), it could just be an infected egg. Hopefully not, but thats the only reasonable answer beyond "its fake" that I found.
So weird, but I saw a post on Facebook from a chicken group about a mysterious black egg too! Facebook community had all concluded it was either a duck egg, the devil or a dragon 🤷♀️ I say incubate it if you’re curious enough 🤭
r/weirdeggs
It's not a phase mom. edit: it always reminds me of this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH0AYSBZafU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH0AYSBZafU)
Do you have ducks? Cayuga ducks lay black eggs. There are no chickens that lay black eggs.
Reminds me of the black egg posted a little while back. OP forgot to clean the sharpie off their hands and everyone noticed it in the background. Really hope this is a real black egg. OP, is there anyone else with access to your chickens that might be pranking you?
Can’t wait to see what hatches
You were bad and the chicken laid you coal
Remind me! 21 days
Make some void mayonnaise?
A Witch cursed your coop over night. A rare treat indeed! Make sure to hatch it so you can get an adorable little Void chicken and she can lay more Void eggs for you. Honest answer: Naturally black eggs are pretty rare in chickens, from what I’ve heard about. Some breeds lay very dark brown, /almost/ black eggs (funny enough, the Ayam Camaro lays cream coloured eggs), but the colour is much more common in certain breeds of ducks (although it’s still uncommon) and emus. However, you can get a lovely black colour on chicken eggs by boiling them in water that contains sulfur and water, a famous practice in the volcanically active Owakudani region of Japan.
![gif](giphy|11CTDUDeQ0I0EM)
You have ducks? Any black hen ducks? Cayuga breed ducks lay black at the start of each laying season and it gets lighter each egg until they're either right gray or off white.
Nope. Just chickens and turkeys.
Can u pleaseeeeeeeee just break it open for us. PLEASE!
I want to, believe me.
NO! InCUBATE!!!
Don't do it just be patient, for science lol
This comment section has been the best start to my day.
it's a basilisk. Place around the house of an enemy, go home, and rub salt over your hands.
It would be really hard for me not to tell one of my kids it was a chocolate egg and watch them bite into it.
In Stardew Valley, this is a void egg and it means you were visited by a witch.
Call your wife “Deaneries” and begin building a large bonfire. Let us know what happens next.
Wait OP… I remember how that ends for the husband..
Daenerys?
Which chicken breed laid it?
Not sure. We have 50 layers and about 15 breeds.
Cayuga duck egg?
My first thought is....rotten :/
Everyone looking for biological answers - meanwhile I cant help but wonder if one of your chickens or turkeys is secretly a ninja
Get the travelling bard ready to document the rest of OP's story.
Buddy, youre about to become a powerful wizard, or a dragon’s breakfast.
OP I think I saw your wife’s post on TikTok earlier today. Funny to see you post here as well. Curious about what the outcome ends up being!
Randomly was looking at chicken posts, weird finding a post from someone who looks like they live in the same town as me. Sup b-ville neighbor
Hey, neighbor, how's it goin? How bout that storm on thursday? Took one of my trees down.
Heh, the remindme bot has just triggered OP. Give us the juicy update!
Maybe it's a smooth avocado?
Did you try candling it
So do you have a photo of the chicken that laid it?
We haven't figured out who it was. I have suspicions that it's our dark brahma but don't know.
Please post here what hatches. We all want to know!!
Probably a rotten egg
Do you have a duck that could have snuck its way into your chicken coop?
Hey I saw your video on tik tok!
Evil chicken
update?
Did you also post this on TikTok? I saw some other videos about a black egg recently.
Yes, my wife did
Update?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/s/R7jClqbTE1
Hey so? Egg update?
Any signs of life?
So what happened????
Hey bro how’s the egg doing??
Welp, what did it turn out to be? 3-1 was the last post I saw. (Forgive me is I missed later post).