Can chicken eggs be too big?

[emellsee]

One of my ladies is laying HUGE eggs and I'm worried about her! She is a Rhode Island Red and I believe hatched in August 2021. She is laying 7 days a week and attached is a photo of her egg this morning compared to another Rhode Island Red in my flock. She seems in good health, she has the most personality of any of the ladies. She is growing at a steady pace but is not the largest of the ladies. They aren't always this big, as you can see in the photo of multiple eggs, but it has happened more than once and they are not double yolks. I can't identify what changes might cause them to occasionally be this big, any advice? It can't be pleasant to lay these!

 

[JJandtheBoys]

As long as she is comfortably laying, is healthy and not overweight, this is not a problem. I had a very young Whiting True Blue whose first egg was a giant double-yolker. She laid well for a while and within a few months became hopelessly eggbound and died. From what I've read, an early GIANT egg can cause some internal damage like it did for Snapdragon. Sad fluke. Congratulations on such beautiful jumbo eggs!

 

[Pierre duck drake]

My RIR lays GIANT eggs! Every single day! Your hen is fine!

 

[emellsee]

As long as she is comfortably laying, is healthy and not overweight, this is not a problem. I had a very young Whiting True Blue whose first egg was a giant double-yolker. She laid well for a while and within a few months became hopelessly eggbound and died. From what I've read, an early GIANT egg can cause some internal damage like it did for Snapdragon. Sad fluke. Congratulations on such beautiful jumbo eggs!

Oh, gosh, I'm so sorry for your lady! I keep reading these horror stories which is why I'm worried.

 

[emellsee]

My RIR lays GIANT eggs! Every single day! Your hen is fine!

Oh good! I read old threads that said if she's laying a giant egg every day she is destined for an early and likely gruesome death so hopefully it's just blessed genetics! It's not that large every time but does happen about 1/10 but haven't been able to identify a difference that would contribute.

 

[Pierre duck drake]

Oh good! I read old threads that said if she's laying a giant egg every day she is destined for an early and likely gruesome death so hopefully it's just blessed genetics! It's not that large every time but does happen about 1/10 but haven't been able to identify a difference that would contribute.

I think you hen should be fine! My RIR named Pumpkin lays huge eggs every time!

 

[Brenda Jones]

I think maybe the breed may have some effect, but I lost a girl to a prolapsed vent because she consistently laid 100+ gram eggs. It was a matter of her getting too much protein (or how she processed it) I feed a16% layer feed and she was definitely a food hog. I have since cut back on the amount of food I feed and no longer keep the bowl full all the time... they only get a cup of feed at a time (2x daily) for 2 girls (now), and the two I have left don't always finish the 2nd bowl . I am giving the extra 2nd feeding because we have been several days below zero and most days below freezing (low teens to single digits) this winter. But I now watch a bit closer what/ how much they are eating.

 

[Sc_chickengirl]

My RIR lays 3 times a week and she always lays huge eggs that are at least two times bigger that all the other eggs

 

[Pierre duck drake]

Look at this egg I got from Pumpkin yesterday!

this pink egg is our normal giant egg!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Oh good! I read old threads that said if she's laying a giant egg every day she is destined for an early and likely gruesome death so hopefully it's just blessed genetics! It's not that large every time but does happen about 1/10 but haven't been able to identify a difference that would contribute.

You have a pelvic ring. Your chicken does not. What you imagine being quite painful for you is much more normal for a chicken.

Yes, things can go wrong. Occasionally, they do. It takes a while for a chicken to get its plumbing worked out - mistakes in egg production (fairy eggs, double yolks, oversized eggs, eggs w/i eggs, shelless eggs) etc are at least 10x more common in a the first year of lay than in later life, when chances drop (according to what I've read) to less than 1:100, perhaps as low as 1:500.

If, for some reason of genetics, your chicken continues to do so at high frequency, she will likely have enhanced dietary needs to support that production - which if you free feed, she will see to herself - and may, yes, have a shortened lifespan (or shortened productive period) due to reproductive illness/injury. No guarantees in life.