Fairy eggs Salmon Faverolles

[NevadaEmma]

My group of 14 female Faverolles are starting to lay eggs finally! So far I have gotten about a dozen eggs, all fairy eggs. I boiled all the fairy eggs and the ones I have opened so far have all had yolks. I am assuming that their eggs should be more of a regular chicken size at some point. The eggs do not seem to be fertile. The two roosters have been mating with some of the girls, but not all of the hens combs and wattles are red, more of a light pink. It also appears that one of the roosters is having a hard time mating with the hens. Not sure if it is the same rooster each time I notice the failed attempts.

Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[sourland]

Egg size will increase, and his skill will improve. It just takes some of us longer.

 

[NevadaEmma]

Yes, I was fairly certain that things would work out to a more normal situation, but I was surprised that there were so many fairy eggs. Previously with my other chickens of various breeds, I only had two fairly eggs in two years.

They are sweet birds, even the roosters, at least so far. I hope that the roosters stay even tempered. The SF are the first type of chicken I have had that have been good about me bringing in younger birds. I first put in 4 young Buff Orphingtons and the SFs acted like they had always been part of the group. Then I put in 6 young SFs, four female and two male. Same thing, no problems what so ever.

I just wish that they had a bit less harsh voices! Thanks for the reply.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They're likely not fairy eggs, just very small pullet eggs. I don't know if it's a breed thing, but my SF lays noticeably smaller eggs (pullet sized) and they never got any bigger than that.

 

[NevadaEmma]

I am not sure I like hearing that! Have you had any of them hatch either with a broody hen or incubator? I have a Buff Orphington that just hatched a raised a group of 7 (6 roosters) and has now gone broody again. I did not think she would go broody again so I did not gather any eggs for her to sit on. She starting sitting w/o any eggs so I added a few that I suspected should be fertile from the other few hens that I have that are not SF.

 

[rosemarythyme]

No roo, so I've never tried hatching the smaller SF eggs.

 

[Dragonlady1956]

Mine are laying small eggs too. Just curious, have you noticed if they're beard goes black when they're ready to lay an egg? Mine does and once the egg is laid it goes back to tan. She is 22 weeks old and just started laying eggs. Her sister still hasn't laid an egg.

 

[NevadaEmma]

No I have not noticed any change in the muff color. I have 21 SF's and it is hard to tell them apart most of the time. Their muffs range in color from all white to heavily black feathers in the white and in between.

I think the eggs are getting larger, but my non SF chickens have decided to start laying their eggs in the same coop which are considerably larger. Eventually I plan to have two separate areas but for now they all nest in each others coops.

Do you have any problems with what is called scissor beak? It is a deformity that keeps them from closing their beaks normally. The hatchery I purchased them from says that this breed is prone to this problem, but they are surprised and how many I have in my group of 21 birds. So far I clearly have identified 5 birds with this problem.

 

[Dragonlady1956]

Beaks - Not that I noticed, I only have 2 SF. Also have 2 Easter eggers and a speckled sussex

 

[NevadaEmma]

Beaks - Not that I noticed, I only have 2 SF. Also have 2 Easter eggers and a speckled sussex

Thanks for the reply. You would have noticed by now if your SF had the scissor beak problem. It showed up in some of mine at about 2 to 3 months old.