Egg Laying Issues

[HendricksonHomestead]

I got 3 one year old laying hens (1 RIR, 1 barred rock, 1 isa brown) at the end of June from someone rehoming them. They were all laying one egg a day consistently right away for about two weeks. Then all of a sudden the barred rock and isa brown stopped laying completely. I didn't know if it was their diet or what was causing the lack of egg production. I figured it was due to the heat we had here in Michigan during July. I also have 10 other chickens, but they are all about 13 weeks old except one, my sebright who is 7 months old and hasn't laid yet. The barred rock started laying again 2 weeks ago, the first day she laid one soft shelled egg that broke as soon as I picked it up. But she's been laying one normal egg a day since. I've got nothing from the isa brown since she stopped laying a month ago.
Now to explain this photo: these are the two eggs that I collected today. The brown one I'm guessing is from the RIR and looks like it has blood on it? And I got this white one with a pointy end? I feel like it's too big to be from my sebright but I'm unsure. What do you guys think? Is 7 months too early for a sebright to lay? Would one of the other hens lay a strange white egg?

 

[chrissynemetz]

7 months old isn't really too young to be laying, and I believe sebrights do lay white eggs, so it's possible.

 

[aart]

Awfully big egg for a sebright, isn't it?
Assuming the brown egg is of 'normal' size.
A quarter in the pic for scale would be most helpful.

The funky egg could be from one of the older birds, odd shape and no coating can go together from a shell gland glitch. Could be blood or poop on the brown egg, a bit of blood is nothing to worry about, happens sometimes, as long as it's not frequent.

The 'one year old' hens could be 12 months old to 24 months old....probably close to 18 months old....and may be slowing production prior to molting. You can get some funky eggs around molting time. Both excessive heat and change in diet can affect egg production.

 

[HendricksonHomestead]

Awfully big egg for a sebright, isn't it?
Assuming the brown egg is of 'normal' size.
A quarter in the pic for scale would be most helpful.

The funky egg could be from one of the older birds, odd shape and no coating can go together from a shell gland glitch. Could be blood or poop on the brown egg, a bit of blood is nothing to worry about, happens sometimes, as long as it's not frequent.

The 'one year old' hens could be 12 months old to 24 months old....probably close to 18 months old....and may be slowing production prior to molting. You can get some funky eggs around molting time. Both excessive heat and change in diet can affect egg production.

I think that it is much too large to be from my sebright, the brown egg is normal size. The white egg was kind of rough feeling so it lacking a coating and being from one of the older girls makes sense. When I got the older girls in June I was told they had just turned a year old, so they're about 14 months old now.

 

[HendricksonHomestead]

Update! Today we got 3 eggs for the first time in a month!! Yahoo! The middle large one was there when I let the chickens out of the coop this morning, assuming it's from the Isa Brown since it's larger than the others and she laid HUGE eggs before. I saw the RIR lay the brown one to the left and I also saw the barred rock lay the small one to the right. The left egg is perfect & shiny, no surprise since the RIR has been the one laying this whole time. Both the middle egg and the right egg have a "rough" coating to them. The one on the right is very rough all the way around and the middle one is just rough on the pointy end. Do you guys keep the "rough" eggs, or do you toss them?

 

[aart]

Do you guys keep the "rough" eggs, or do you toss them?

I might not sell them, those rough shells can be weak/thin, but I certainly eat them.
Then I can inspect the shell too.

 

[HendricksonHomestead]

I've been getting 3 eggs a day now, which is super exciting! My Isa Brown laid the largest egg I've ever seen from a chicken today. It's the size of the palm of my hand.

 

[aart]

My Isa Brown laid the largest egg I've ever seen from a chicken today.

Ooooo...might be an egg in an egg, or at least a double yolker!
Open it up!
Great pics, BTW.

 

[HendricksonHomestead]

Ooooo...might be an egg in an egg, or at least a double yolker!
Open it up!
Great pics, BTW.

Yup! double yolk!