Can anyone shed light on why one of my chooks has laid this egg? I assume it has no yolk... the shell is very dark with darker brown spots. I assume her system has had some kind of shock... does anyone know the most common causes of "shock" in very free range hens? I haven't noticed any of the hens off their feed or acting/looking unusual. They've just started laying again since spring has arrived, although one laid on and off all winter. Curious. Thanks for any advice!
Amber
PS they haven't been wormed, or had any pesticide/insecticide applied. I figure chickens spent hundreds of years without these necessities, and nature has developed systems in their bodies/behaviours/environments to address these things...

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We occasionally get a teeny egg - it's usually a young bird just coming into lay or can be an older one coming in after the winter rest, I wouldn't worry about it at all, it's next egg will most likely be totally normal.

As for worming you really should worm - in the wild the birds are moving over a large area and roosting in trees - parasites don't get a chance to build up, and they use different dust bathing sites so again no build up. We keep them in captivity on small areas of land and in a hen house which is the perfect environment for parasites to live and breed.
I would recommend worming twice a year - you can get a product called flubenvet, am assuming you are in the southern hemisphere but you still should be able to get some and now is a good time to worm - ask your vet.

I would also de-bug your chicken house at least once a year - I use a mite spray to do all the perches and nooks and crannies to kill red mite which don't actually live on the bird they just climb up their legs at night - I do it in the morning after throughly cleaning the chook house out - then leave to dry all day with all doors and pop holes open.
I also use a spot on treatment for each bird - like you use for cats - to get rid of lice and mites that live on the bird. If you don't keep on top of the parasites you'll end up with some seriously sick chooks over time and they can even die or be so run down they get diseases - the treatments are cheap so well worth doing, also with high parasite levels egg production will get lower and lower!!

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Hey, thanks for your advice... I have considered worming and treating for parasites. At the vet clinics I've worked at we used to dispense ivomec injection (and similar variations for pigs, deer and cattle) for off-label use topically in birds to treat internal and external parasites. Definitely more effective (and economical!) than the licensed avian products.

It's an idea I struggle with, because on one hand I have a lot of faith in nature's clever designs and methods for dealing with parasites (same for supplements), and my four chickens live a life as close to a natural one as they can really - they choose where they roost (in a large raised alcove under the deck of my house) and wander FAR and wide all through the native bush around my house. They choose when they go to bed and when they get up, they don't have artificial lighting. They eat as many bugs and bits and pieces as they want (no shortage in the bush!), most of our safe food scraps, and dust bath in several types of strata: gravel off the driveway, dirt from the bush, leaves and detritus etc... The least "nature-like" part of their life is the place they choose to roost, which unlike roosting in trees, does need to be cleaned. But then I think red shavers (like a lot of "purebred" poultry) are hardly bred to the most "natural recipe", so no doubt are more succeptible to health conditions. I certainly am not a complete hippy about the idea of treating for parasites, and can see the merit in certain situations, but I like to have a think before I leap into things just for the sake of doing it... Same with worming dogs (and cats), for example: for years veterinary advice was to treat every three months for the duration of the pet's life. More recently, over-worming has been linked with gastric upsets... I probably will treat them at some stage I suppose!

Thanks again for taking the time to reply - it's certainly made me relax a bit, knowing at this stage it's probably nothing too significant!

Amber