Barred Rock Egg Size and Skipping a Day

[Myjenny]

Hi,
My Barred Rock "Penny" started laying at 23 -24 weeks. She laid a very small but perfect egg every day for 19 days, between 9:30 and 11 AM.

But today there was no egg! Weather is perfect, nothing weird happened to them yesterday, they all got their snacks and petted as usual, etc.

My questions are 1) is this normal to skip after being so regular? and 2) Will her eggs get bigger? and 3) Could she have hidden it somewhere? Is that common after laying in the box that long? (They free range in the backyard, about 1/3 acre. Couple of spots where I could look tomorrow.)

She is in no distress, I'm pretty sure it is not stuck, she was acting normally all day, didn't even go in the coop till dusk.

The BR eggs are so small, it takes 2 to equal 1 of my Golden Sexlink or RIR eggs, who started laying 4 and 5 days after her, but only every other day. My RIR lays on alternate days than the Sexlink. Both very regular and in the boxes. So I get 2 eggs a day, a small and a large.

Thanks for any info!

Jen

 

[Pyxis]

Chickens don't lay every day, so missing a day is totally normal. Some breeds don't even lay more than one or two eggs a week Her eggs will probably get bigger, pullets usually lay smaller eggs until their body gets into the swing of things.

 

[SnowPeeOstrichU]

Pyxis is right, many birds will skip a couple days a week or even only lay a couple days a week. I wouldn't worry about it at all unless it continued for several days in a row.

 

[aart]

Not unusual...one of my pullets started laying last summer laid everyday for 49 days then one day off, then 34 and a day off, then stretches of 26, 13, 20....

 

[centrarchid]

The skipping a day events can be due to stress as already considered and as a mechanism to adjust for tendency of some hens to lay at less than or more than 24 hour intervals. They can also get into some internal resource issues that slow egg formation. When it comes to egg size it may take 6 months or more to get maximum sized eggs. It is with the larger eggs that hens start skipping on regularity which becomes particularly evident as a hen ages and her ability to produce eggs declines.

 

[srutan23]

Don't mean to hijack, but similar question. I have 4 barred rocks and all started laying about 3 weeks ago. None in the nesting boxes, but all in the same corner of the coop. Most days I only have 2 eggs, some days 3, but rarely do all 4 lay on the same day. No stress. They free range on about 1 acre and I have looked in spots around the yard to see if there is a hidden laying spot but have found nothing. I had to start giving them the chick starter feed due to the chicks in the coop with them. I am also giving them access to oyster shells. Is the chick starter feed what is effecting the laying? I would think they would be more consistent at this point.

 

[aart]

Don't mean to hijack, but similar question. I have 4 barred rocks and all started laying about 3 weeks ago. None in the nesting boxes, but all in the same corner of the coop. Most days I only have 2 eggs, some days 3, but rarely do all 4 lay on the same day. No stress. They free range on about 1 acre and I have looked in spots around the yard to see if there is a hidden laying spot but have found nothing. I had to start giving them the chick starter feed due to the chicks in the coop with them. I am also giving them access to oyster shells. Is the chick starter feed what is effecting the laying? I would think they would be more consistent at this point.

Not unusual at all...even with grown birds but especially for the first month or so of laying.

The starter feed with oyster shell access should be fine, what is the protein percentage of the starter?

Put some fake eggs and/or golf balls in the nests to entice them to lay there.....and make sure the nests are easily accessible, getting both up and down.

 

[srutan23]

Not unusual at all...even with grown birds but especially for the first month or so of laying.

The starter feed with oyster shell access should be fine, what is the protein percentage of the starter?

Put some fake eggs and/or golf balls in the nests to entice them to lay there.....and make sure the nests are easily accessible, getting both up and down.

It is 20%. The nesting boxes are on the ground and have fake eggs in them. Does being on the ground have anything to do with why they don't lay in there?

 

[aart]

Quote: No.....new layers are just goof balls! They may figure it out.....just may take time.
Maybe take the fake eggs out of one of the nests, I had a pullet who wouldn't use the nest at first until I took the fake eggs out.

 

[Myjenny]

Thanks for the info, all! I had a "Penny egg" at the usual time this morning!