Gigantic egg laid today - 116.7 grams!

[ChickChickChicky]

I went Sunday and bought 6 new chickens, they were year-old Red Stars that came from a commercial egg factory (debeaked and all). Well, today one of them gave me the most gigantic chicken egg I've ever seen - 116.7 grams, 5.1 cm wide, and 7.6 cm long.

I found out that this egg comes nowhere close to the world record, which is from a hen in China... 201 grams, 6.3 cm wide and 9.2 cm long. OUCH!!!!!!

I'm not going to crack it open for awhile yet, I want a chance to show it around first

 

[chicmom]

Fantastic! Maybe the hen is showing you her gratitude! That is one huge egg!

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I'm not sure exactly what kind of setup they came from, but they are are sweet and pretty docile and tame. I bought them from a farmer who said he bought 2,500 of them from an Amish-run egg factory in a neighboring state... apparently they keep the birds laying for 5 months, then consider them "spent" and sell them off and start anew. He sells the birds out piecemeal to various people, he was down to 250 birds when I met up with him. I asked him what in the world he did with all those eggs.... he said that many of his neighbors know when he gets a batch of chickens and will buy alot of the eggs, but what he can't sell he feeds to his feeder hogs (he had a setup to die for, and just about every kind of livestock and critter imagineable). He buys the chickens like this every spring and gets rid of all the hens before summer so he doesn't have to deal with them thru the heat. He said that last year he only had to send about 100 to butcher. They really are sweet and will, for the most part, let me hold and pet them. They are kind of on the thin side (not starved but not as heavy as my other girls), their egg shells are really thin, and their feathers look sort of bedraggled, so I figure that after a few weeks of being here at the happy place they'll be looking a whole lot better. It's really hard to get used to that debeaked look though, I feel so sorry for them.

 

[StarLover21]

That's what happens when farmers sell 'spent' hens! What a big egg! Good for you for resucing them!

 

[NCnarrator]

It's really hard to get used to that debeaked look though, I feel so sorry for them.

If they're de-beaked can they still pick up bugs and other happy treats? I've wondered about that.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Well. they aren't free ranged (too many predators) but they do have plenty of safe, secure outdoor area to wander in. They seem to do OK with being able to pick up wheat & cracked corn, and spilled crumbles, off the ground, but I don't think they can peck at a head of cabbage or other whole greens like my "regular" girls, so today instead of throwing a whole head of cabbage out there I chopped it up for them. I think they could probably still get bugs ok. One of my RIR hens (named Stumpy) came with half of the ends of all her toes frozen off, so she has a hard time scratching or digging in the dirt and roosting on anything but a broad 2x4, so I guess we all have our various hardships. They all seem happy anyway.

 

[vishnu kokareko]

goos luck

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I got another even BIGGER egg today, 127.6 grams! I have really been shoving the food at them (and they've been devouring it) because I noticed that a couple of them were dangerously thin, like skeletons (they are the ones whose beaks are cut really short, so bad that the tips don't meet at all and there is an open hole). I was feeding them some bread out of my hand the other day and noticed that the debeaked girls first grabbed, but then dropped, about 75% of the bread pieces, they just don't have enough beak to hang onto anything... so I think that even tho they're pecking at things, they probably aren't getting much of it actually down. It hurts my heart to see how they've been mutilated, I really think that debeaking should be against the law, and I can't believe that Amish farmers would do this to their animals (if the person I bought them from is to be believed). I just can't see where debeaking falls within the practices of good animal husbandry.

 

[ChickenCrazy8]

Wow!!! I didn't think chickens could lay such big eggs, that would hurt
I agree that debeaking is just plain horrible, but those chickens now have a great owner!!!!

 

[karlamaria]

oooh how sad, poor girl, how do they eat well this way?? Im subscribed here, I want to see these eggs when opened!! i can not believe how big they are wow !!!!!