Poppet is so cute! We enjoyed the video of MamaBoyd catching Poppet for bed. My DH has been coaxing our 3-yr-old Silkie "Ginny" to go into the coop. She goes in by day just fine to use the coop nestboxes but lingers at night for DH to lead her up the ramp. An old Dominique "Dana" waits by the back door for DH to escort her to the coop every evening! How these girls train us humans!
Over the years our Silkie hens were various sizes/weights anywhere from 2 up to 2.5 lbs and their eggs ranged from 1.1 to 1.5 oz. The smaller girls layed smaller eggs and the bigger girls layed bigger eggs -- not that there was THAT much difference in sizes or egg weights but it matters for bantams. As for bloody shell eggs we had only one larger Silkie girl "Ginny" lay a bloody first & 2nd egg shell but then she layed larger size eggs compared to the other Silkies.
"Ginny"
It bothers me when a Silkie lays bigger eggs cuz I had one sweet 6-yr-old girl "Mini" lay a couple huge dark hard rubbery eggs and the 2nd one was stuck to her vent as we rushed her to the vet. Our vet raised chickens as a boy and the local mtn rangers bring him injured wildlife often & he loves saving lives. But when he said my precious little girl was bleeding from an ovarian tumor OMG blood all over the vet table -- we had to put her down -- this vet never opted for euthanizing but this one time the vet did not object to my choice to put her down
"Mini" was a prolific layer for a Silkie (laying into her 6th year) but as I and many others have noted on BYC -- prolific layers seem prone to developing reproductive/health issues shortening their lifespans. We rushed "Mini" to the vet so many times w/ other health concerns like the time she wheezed so hard all night long I thought we were losing her as she lay limp in my arms thru to morning. She also lost toenails and toes scratching splinters at the bottom of nestboxes she'd be so agitated to lay an egg! We had to put plexiglass in the nestboxes to keep her from injuring her toes on splintered wood. We now use only plastic/smooth resin nestboxes for the new coop.A picture of "Mini" w/ one of her missing feathered toes.
On the other hand we had another Silkie "Violet" who stopped laying at 5 years old and lived over 11 years before her energy slowed down and before her wee heart stopped. She coo'd & talked & responded to me like she always did as we put her in a soft box bed in the house. She went to sleep and within the hour she thrashed and gave up a death rattle gurgle and went still. She had a relatively healthy lifespan although some Silkie owners have reported even longer lifespans.
"Violet"
Just never know which birds are going to be what -- broody? prolific layers? big eggs? small eggs? colored eggs? good temperament? bully? disabilities? health issues? smart? dumb? huggers? standoffish? lifespan? etc? It's all part of both sorrow & joy of chickeneering (is chickeneering even a word? -- must be cuz spellcheck didnt change it).
Unaware to us at the time that our 6-yr-old "Mini" might be developing ovarian issues was this one tiny fart egg we had no idea who layed it at the time. It happened only once so it was a mystery.
I need to hope that my brother won’t find this account. This is how he finds it though, so I don’t think he will. 
