Banty Eggs?

[Chooksaurus]

We have a trio of RIR that are 20 weeks and are from the same order as my mother's, one of which has been laying for well over a week. I know that they all mature at different rates, etc., and considering the feeding dilemma from before, I would not be surprised that ours were late.

However...on Monday we found our first egg! It wasn't very big, but it was there.

The weird part is that the RIR are only starting to demonstrate the behaviors that I have read about on this site. They squat if I come near them to get a rub, but have not messed with the nesting boxes. I thought it was a RIR for sure, being brown and all, but then Tuesday came...no egg! We sat in the coop for a while to watch and see who was going in the boxes, and to our surprise, the one that exhibited the most "laying" behavior was our little mixed-breed bantam, who is 3-4 weeks younger than the RIRs...only about 16-17 weeks old!

She goes up by the boxes and sings the egg song like there is no tomorrow. Apparently she thinks that if she sings it louder she will lay bigger eggs?

Wednesday provided us with another small brown egg, exactly the same size as the first. Thursday was another miss, and Friday (today) gave us a tri-fecta of small 1.5" long brown eggs.

Could it be that our little spastic bantam is the one laying? She is quite young, but shows the most signs. If I have researched correctly, bantams can often lay every-other day rather than every day? My mom's RIRs started with eggs that were quite bigger than these, about the size of a "small" store egg and are now up to a "medium" size after 7 eggs. Her's has laid an egg everyday though.

Thoughts? I know time will tell, but who can be patient when it is your first laying hen?

 

[magsrags]

My Polish Bantam lays an egg near EVERY
day sine dec. 23 rd.. singing her song for 1o minutes or longer before the blessed event even happens.
She is the most reliable layer that I've ever had.

 

[Chooksaurus]

So far the every-other-day pattern is continuing for today...no egg.

 

[Retirement chickens]

Hi from Oregon!

Our Japanese Bantam (which appears to be what you have from the photo) lays about 4-5 eggs per week and they look exactly like yours. I suspect you are correct and this is the hen leaving you prizes. Our eggs are almost exactly 2" long and a little under 1-1/2" in diameter, so perhaps a little larger, but then our hen has already raised one brood.

Your bantam hen does look exactly like ours! Watch out if she is not penned. Ours loves to fly and would roost about 30 feet up in a pine tree if given the chance.

Art & Teri

 

[txchickie]

One of my japanese banty girls started laying early, at about 17 weeks. We have 4 japanese girls total and all of their eggs look just like that varying in color a little lighter than the tan, I get an egg from each about every other day. I love my little eggs!

 

[cmom]

I got my first egg at 17 weeks. Also in the beginning they may not lay every day as their bodies are adjusting.

 

[Chooksaurus]

Thanks for all the replies!

Shortly after I posted that we were without an egg today, she was in the coop singing up a racket. We just got back from a day on the town, and lo and behold, there was egg #4, exactly the same size and color. That means 4 eggs in her first 6 days, so it looks like she is going to be a good little producer for us.

I told my wife I am going to make bantam-sized deviled eggs for our next family event and see what kind of response we get.

 

[chicken_china_mom]

What exactly is the egg song? I must have missed something somewhere, cause I didn't hear anything about this. I found my first egg today and for the last few days one of my SLW's has become VERY vocal, but not inside the coop. It's when she's outside the coop she suddenly starts talking REALLY loud. It doesn't sound like her normal clucking, it's much different. She does it for about 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and then just suddenly stops and returns to scratching the ground and eating the grass. Is that the song? My sexlink girl Omelet was in the yard the other day and she just started to, I guess the word is "scream", for about a minute straight. My first instinct was that she was seeing a hawk in the sky, and my eyes turned upwards to see if that was true, but there was nothing there. Whatever she was doing, she scared almost the entire flock and they all went running for the coop, with the exception of my head rooster Buddy who came to stand by her side til she stopped. It was weird. That was day before yesterday. Dunno, she could possibly be the one that laid the egg, though I suspect it was a Wyandotte, not her. What other signs should I be looking for to see if my girls are ready? Most of my flock is right around the 20 week mark. A few are 13 weeks, and still a few more are 10 weeks. Mostly I have bantam Cochins, but I have standards like my Wyandottes and some other breeds too, all together. Whoever laid this first egg, it was huge! I expected my first egg to be half this size! It's about the size of a medium egg, bordering on a large size. And it's such a nice light brown. I figure if I know what the signs are, I can watch to see when more of my girls are ready. I know the boys sure are!

I am interested though in learning about this egg song...

 

[shelleyd2008]

Your girl looks like an old english game bantam to me. I would say for sure that she is the layer, many of my bantams don't lay everyday when they first start.

ETA: Many of my young bantams start laying around 16 weeks, then promptly go broody about 2-4 weeks later

 

[Ms. Cluckingly]

DO most bantams lay like this? What I mean is, would D'Uccles lay the same way?