How Much Canola Meal Can Chickens Have Before Eggs Get Fishy?īased on my research, the problematic percentage of canola meal leading to fishy-smelling eggs is as low as 3% of a chicken’s feed – for susceptible hens. And since there is an increased prevalence of brown-shelled egg-laying chickens here in the United States, that’s something that poultry scientists and nutritionists have to account for when making chicken feed. The mutation is more common in chickens with brown eggs. Poultry scientists and nutritionists are aware of the genetic mutation. However, it usually has to be a pretty significant percentage of the chicken’s feed to cause problems – unless the chickens have the genetic mutation that makes it harder for the chicken to process the TMA into TMAO. What Causes Chicken Eggs to Smell Fishyīased on my research, the most common cause of fishy-smelling chicken eggs is too much canola (or rapeseed) meal in the chicken’s diet. But we’ll talk about that later on in this article. Rather, it just means you need to know that they may be more likely to lay foul-smelling eggs if you’re feeding them lots of canola meal.ĭoes that mean all canola meal should be avoided, especially for the brown egg-layers? No. This doesn’t mean you should avoid brown-shelled egg-laying hens, though. My research also shows that brown-shelled egg-laying hens have an increased likelihood of laying fishy eggs – due to the potential for a genetic mutation that affects their ability to process TMA. And, of the foods that lead to fishy eggs, my research shows that canola meal (rapeseed meal) is the most common culprit. In other words, the most common cause of fishy smelling chicken eggs is their diet.
Brown-shelled egg-laying chickens are more likely to have this specific genetic mutation. These chickens are more likely to experience the above process even if fed smaller quantities of food that lead to TMA. The chicken has a recessive genetic mutation that makes it harder for it to process TMA into TMAO.The excess TMA accumulates in the yolk and results in a fishy-smelling egg. With too much TMA, the chicken’s gut can’t process it all into TMAO. There’s an elevated level of TMA in the chicken’s digestive system due to its dietary intake.However, this normal process doesn’t work as well in two specific cases. That way, everyone is happy with the regular-smelling egg product. Then, the next step of digestion is when the very stinky TMA is processed into the safe and odor-free trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO). Specifically, it’s caused by the fermentation of choline in a chicken’s gut. TMA is a common byproduct of normal digestion processes. The fishy, decaying smell is caused by trimethylamine (or TMA).
They’re delicious! But let me share with you what I discovered in my research. Now that I have access to the backyard homestead, fresh eggs our chickens lay, they aren’t fishy smelling or tasting. It’s helped me realize that the reason I didn’t like eggs growing up is that we bought cheap eggs – many of which were fishy tasting. Researching this topic has been very enlightening for me personally. Keep reading to find out exactly what to do, based on my extensive research! Why Do My Chicken Eggs Smell Fishy? The most common nutritional cause of fishy eggs is too much canola meal, while brown-shelled egg-laying hens are genetically more likely to lay fishy-smelling eggs if fed elevated levels of canola meal.Įven so, there are several things you can do to prevent the fishy egg smell – so that you can enjoy your backyard flock and have fish-smell-free eggs of all colors. So why do some chicken eggs smell fishy? And what can we do to prevent them?Ĭhickens eggs smell fishy due to nutrigenetics (a combination of nutrition and genetics). While I love eating fresh eggs, sometimes you get an egg that just smells fishy.
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