New hens and small eggs

[jwsmith1959]

I picked up five new "Production Reds" from my local supplier (Feed Store). They were getting low on birds and not likely to have any more until Spring, so I bought the last five they had. Today has been three weeks since I've given them a loving home. They have been free ranging for a week now and were voracious in their feeding on green grasses and plants. I aged them at about 18-20 weeks when I brought them home, and one started laying after a week and now have three laying. Their eggs are extremely small. As of yesterday, I've collected 11. The following photo's give an idea about size. I called the Feed Store and was told that they were from the same supplier they always got them from. I know Production Reds can always have somewhat spotty lineages as these all have black tail feathers when my past girls have had white or light red.

I've been feeding them Protein + Layena crumbles (19%) which is a bit new to me , but I bought it as the local Tractor Supply was out of my normal DuMor 16% mini pellets when I last stocked up.

Were these hens under-nourished during their grow period? All of my other Production Reds started laying Large eggs from the beginning. The egg shapes are the typical tear-drop that my previous Production Reds laid. The Rhode Island Reds I have had laid a more rounded and fatter egg.

Can I expect the egg sizes to increase? Is there anything I should be doing differently. We got down to 15F this morning (very cold for the Gulf Coast of Texas), so the girls are remaining in the coop today. The new Purina has Calcium, so I took out my Oyster Shell but I doubt that has anything to do with it. Will Free Ranging help?

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[sourland]

It's not unusual for new layers to produce small eggs, but those are really small. I would expect that size will gradually increase. Can you post pictures of the hens?

 

[Mrs. K]

Mine start tiny like that. If you are baking - use three if the recipe calls for two. In a month or 6 weeks - they will be full size.

Mrs k

 

[CloneFly]

One of my girls just lays small eggs like that. They look like golfballs! She's a Lavander Orpington so I don't think it's the breed... not to mention her sister's eggs are about 3x in size! Hopefully yours grow as the girls adjust to laying

 

[Ridgerunner]

I called the Feed Store and was told that they were from the same supplier they always got them from. I know Production Reds can always have somewhat spotty lineages as these all have black tail feathers when my past girls have had white or light red.

Production Reds are not a breed so there are no standards. It's just a marketing name that somebody calls their birds. Usually a hatchery is fairly consistent in what they call their Production Reds but maybe that supplier is a middleman that buys from different hatcheries. Just about anything could be going on but if they are from the same hatchery they should be more consistent than that.

I've been feeding them Protein + Layena crumbles (19%) which is a bit new to me , but I bought it as the local Tractor Supply was out of my normal DuMor 16% mini pellets when I last stocked up.

If that feed were all they are eating then the 19% should cause them to lay slightly larger eggs because of the higher protein. But since they forage for a lot of their food you've lost the ability to micromanage everything they eat. I'm in the same boat. it's not what is in one bite, it's how many total grams of protein they eat in one entire day. There is nothing wrong with the feed you are feeding. Some people consider it better because of the higher protein content. Some like it because they consider Layena to be better quality than the Dumors. I consider both of them good enough.

Were these hens under-nourished during their grow period? All of my other Production Reds started laying Large eggs from the beginning.

You are not sure of the age of these. If the first girls were a little older when they started the eggs would have be larger.

Can I expect the egg sizes to increase?

Yes.

Is there anything I should be doing differently. We got down to 15F this morning (very cold for the Gulf Coast of Texas), so the girls are remaining in the coop today.

I would not do anything differently. I give mine the option to go out or stay in as they wish. If the wind is blowing they stay in. If it is calm mine are out if it gets all the way down to 0 F.

The new Purina has Calcium, so I took out my Oyster Shell but I doubt that has anything to do with it.

I'd leave the oyster shell in, though I don't think that is your problem. If that Layer feed were all they were eating then they'd get enough calcium for their egg shells. But it is usually not all they are eating. When they free range they may be eating a lot of stuff that is really low in calcium. They may need some of the extra calcium that is in the oyster shell. If they were low on calcium the egg shells would be thinner, the eggs would not be smaller.

Will Free Ranging help?

I don't think so. Some hens will never lay large eggs, they are not programmed that way. But the only thing that will help is patience. The eggs should get larger as they get older. It is possible they are not as old as you think they are.

 

[aart]

They look like typical pullet eggs to me.
Weighing them and/or taking a pic next to a quarter would give us better perspective of scale.

 

[jwsmith1959]

It's not unusual for new layers to produce small eggs, but those are really small. I would expect that size will gradually increase. Can you post pictures of the hens?

Sorry...got tied up yesterday. Here are my new girls.

 

[jwsmith1959]

I should have followed up with y'all sooner. I started getting daily eggs by the third week of January. It seems odd, but when I switched feeds to the Tractor Supply Producers Pride mini laying pellets it's like the eggs immediately got bigger. I'm getting large to extra large daily now. Even had a few Jumbo's.

I did lose one of my girls to a Raptor and looked into maybe replacing her but all of the new pullets the feed store has have white tail ends which I'm sure will cause some issues when trying to introduce.

Living out here in the country I have to replace my flock about once a year. The feed store gets new girls in weekly (14-17 weeks old), so we'll wait and see.

I get a lot of good info on this site. Thanks again for your ears.