I am new to chickens and do not know much.

Date sort Score sort
moose tracker

moose tracker

Hatching
8 Years
Nov 26, 2011
7
0
7
I have 11 chickens. 7 Buff Orpingtons and 4 Rhode Island Reds. They have been laying for about 3 months. I have 2 questions. 1 of the Rhode Island Red has never developed any tail feathers. She is also extremely wild. Is this a throw back to a wild chicken or a birth defect?
1 of the Reds layed an egg this morning the size of my thumb. She has been laying normal eggs before what causes this? thanks for the help.
 
15498_seattle_4.jpg


About the small egg. Sounds like a pullet egg, fart egg, wind egg. All just different names for a small egg. A little unusual for her to lay one after laying normal sized eggs, but probably just a fluke, nothing to worry about.

No tail, could it have been picked out by the other chickens? That might explain the wildness.
Maybe just a genetic thing. There are chickens that don't have a tail, maybe a throwback.

So I guess no definate answer just speculation.

Good luck with them,

Imp
 
Hi! I am pretty new to this site, but quickly have learned to LOVE it.

I've got 11 chickens as well. Mine are 5 Australorp hens and one rooster and 5 light brahma hens. Ya beat me with eggs. I got my first one October 30. Yesterday I got nine eggs. I'm contented to get 8 a day.

I wouldn't worry about the small egg. From what I've read, a mis-happen egg now and then is normal. I don't know about the bare behind issue. I'd suspect the other chicks did some pecking on her. If she doesn't get normal feather growth once she molts then you'd know it was genetic.

Glad to have you here!

Love, Linn B (aka Smart Red) Gardening zone 5a - 4b in south-est, central-est Wisconsin
 
Wind egg, fart egg, pullet egg, witch's egg - all are just little glitches in the hen's ovulation & nothing to fear.

As for the tailless RIR...
If you can, catch your girl & pick her up & look at that tail. Is the tailbone present? The tailbone is the spade-shaped appendage about 1 & 1/2 x 1" in size, right above her vent. If she's being picked on by her flock mates that tailbone will be naked, or mostly naked. If she was formed without a tail, it will usually be missing entirely. Several breeds of chicken carry the tailless gene & with all the chicken breeding going on, it pops up every now and again. Breeds like Auracaunas and Manx Rumpies are required to be tailless. If she has the tail but it's missing the feathers, it's possible that there has been damage to the follicle, either genetic or from picking by other hens, and the feathers just won'e grow. Hope this helps.
 
A fart egg is much different from a pullet egg.
A pullet egg is the small eggs from newly laying birds.
A fart egg is much smaller. I've seen them the size of a hazelnut. They are almost always without a yolk(albumen only). They're usually the result of a stressed reproductive system, usually after a bird has been laying daily non-stop for months.
It's not a big deal
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom