Egg size and color varies

[kayaker69]

My 4 Black Australorps are 1 year and 7 months old. Ever since they started laying the sizes vary. They have never been consistant. They also have never been consistant with their color. They vary from beautiful brown to very pale. I have a medium sized fenced in yard and they are free to roam the yard from morning till they go back in the coop in the evening. I do not put anything on my grass so they eat grass and any bugs they find. I have three waterers (kept in the shade) so they have clean water. I add a table spoon of Apple Cider Vinegar (with "Mother") to each gallon of water. Their main feed is Purina Layena Plus Omega 3. Mixed into their food I add aprox 1 tablespoon of cinamin and 1 tablespoon of Diatamacious Earth to each gallon of food. Every other day I also feed them a good chicken scratch and freeze dried meal worms. Inside the eggs seem fine with bright orange full yolks and they taste great. My girls appear to be healthy. I was averageing 5 to 7 eggs a week from each chicken (total of 20 to 28 eggs a week) until about the middle of October when they cut way back and now it's down to a total of 6 to 10 for the whole week. (That's 0 to 2 eggs a day from all 4 combined).

3 of the chickens have full, bright red combs but one has a pale comb and it seems to have shrunk. It used to be the same as all the others but changed in the last month. Other than that she seems happy and healthy. She's always been the one at the bottom of the pecking order.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[junebuggena]

The one with the pale comb may be just about to start molting. No two hens will lay exactly the same. Some lay larger eggs, some lay smaller, even if they are the exact same breed. Same thing goes for shell color. Variations are normal from hen to hen.