Lumpy egg?

When I was little we raised chickens on our family farm. I remember the large coop that was already on the property when my folks bought the farm. It was leaning a bit to one side and drafty, but it wasn't far from the house so it was easy for my brothers and I to feed and water the birds, and gather eggs. The actual animal health care, diagnosis and treatment of illness was left to my parents. And I suspect that for a sick chicken, the likely cure was euthanasia. It's hard to justify an expensive vet bill for a $5 animal.

But back to the joys of taking on a new project (like raising chickens), I like the challenge of learning all about a new subject. I took three 1-hour classes on chickens at this year's Wisconsin Garden Expo, but none of them prepared me for what I found in the nesting box this weekend.

I found this large, misshapen egg in the nesting box this weekend.

I found a large, misshapen egg. It was lumpy, the shell was thick and thin and looked nothing like what the hen has been laying for the last three weeks. I checked out backyardchickens.com and found one article with photos of a very similar condition, but not much info. The concluding advice in the threaded discussion was "Was probably just a glitch in the hen's system. Nothing to worry about!"

So, I broke the lumpy egg open and it smelled fine. So I cooked it up. What more mysteries to chickens have to offer, and how much more do I get to learn as I care for a new species of animal?

The possibilities are endless.