Did my sexlink already lay an egg?

[Lrm93]

i have 8 full grown hens and 10 sex links. I got my sexlinks from tractor supply the first week of March, so they aren’t very old. However this morning there was an egg in the nesting box that was very dark brown and slightly bigger than a quarter. My other chickens eggs have never been this small or dark in color. Is it possible my sex link juvenile is already laying???

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

No not from your young ones. Sounds like a fairy egg that usually contains no real yolk, just a bit of one that the body processes as a full size egg. The same pigment is applied no matter the size of eggs, so a tiny egg would be darker than a normal sized egg from the same hen.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

No not from your young ones. Sounds like a fairy egg that usually contains no real yolk, just a bit of one that the body processes as a full size egg. The same pigment is applied no matter the size of eggs, so a tiny egg would be darker than a normal sized egg from the same hen.

X2

 

[GC-Raptor]

One of my 3 years old Golden Comets laid a fairy egg after she finished molting last winter.
I would suspect one of your hens laid the tiny egg after molting or with the increased daylight.
The earliest of 5 Golden Comets (a Red sex-links), started to lay, was 16.5 weeks. All 5 were laying by 19 weeks. I got them as day old Chicks early April. GC

 

[aart]

Fairy, fart, wind, rooster eggs are usually from a tiny piece of tissue breaking loose from the reproductive tract, or an immature ova(yolk) and the body forms an egg around it. Color can be darker than 'normal' as the pigment coating released has to cover a much smaller area so is thicker. Can happen with any age layer, but more common with new or older layers.


I think it's explained in this excellent video, which is worth watching regardless