Egg Colors. I know you guys have an array of colored eggs....

[Tala]

Quote:
Cool... that's what I was looking for... I tried searching for it... but the last thing I thought about looking up was "Sexy EGG Thread"

lol yeah I only remember it because it's weird
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=268909

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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I doubt it. If they were all the same age, they were all hatched on the same date, and probably all came from the same lines. Ours are all the same line and although most are fairly typical of a red sex link we do have some dark ones, some very light colored ones, and some gold birds.

The sex links were already started, 17 weeks when we got them, however they were really light like you said. I don't think they started laying until 22 weeks.

In my limited experience, that doesn't sound right for commercial brown layers. I'd expect the first few eggs at 17-18 weeks and the flock should reach sexual maturity (50% lay) at around 20-21 weeks.

So I shouldn't light the EE's, these are the ones that are currently only 12 weeks or so ( I would have to look at the hatch date). I was thinking about waiting until they were full grown before they started to lay, which should be 20 weeks. I didn't know the light would induce premature laying... I just wanted them to get used to the light a few weeks early.

Light stimulation can cause them to lay early. They need to build up their reserves and put on a little weight before they start laying. If they start laying too early it can hurt overall production for the rest of the year and the eggs can be on the small side of things. The weight of the hen when she starts laying pretty much governs what size eggs she will lay for the rest of the year.

If you can find out what strain they are and find a management guide for the birds it might help you in the long run. Here is a link to the management guide for the Hisex Browns we use. It is definitely helpful. I can look at my flock's production for this week (92% @ 41 weeks old) and compare it to the Performance Objectives in the guide and find that I am right on track for this strain of bird. Otherwise there would always be nagging questions in the back of my mind about whether they could perform better if I fed them more, whether I am feeding them too much or too little, etc.

http://www.centurionpoultry.com/default/download_pdf/47​

 

[Kansaseq]

This photo has EEs and a NH egg.

 

[Burbs]

I know this is off topic, but....where do you store that many eggs prior to taking them to market?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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Not to hijack Jeff's thread, but we have a walk in cooler in the barn. Each of these racks holds 450 dozen.