newbie here with egg question

[12toomany]

As stated, I am very much a newbie here. I have 8 silkie chicks (5 weeks old) one easter egger and 1 buff orpington. the EE has been laying from the day we brought her home, with a day or 2 off now and then for 3 weeks now. one of the eggs was long, pointed at both ends. each egg is smaller than the one before it and started green and are turning more brown each time. i have an organic egg layer feed & we give the big girls a bit of cracked corn (not sure how much to give, bought it thinking they would love it and eat out of my 4 year olds hand!) i put greens from the garden in with them (mixed salad greens and bok choy right now) they do not eat it, but we put the corn with it so they have to scratch around to find the corn. we have let them out a few times, they actually prefer to be indoors! (I saw a post somewhere about 'dumb chickens' that might apply here, LOL)
my question is this- should i be concerned about the long egg? an i feedig therm sufficiently? what might i add to the ee's diet to beef up her eggs a bit- they are getting so small!
much thanks!

p.s. sorry about the typing- sleeping, kicking toddler in my arms!

 

[danielbrown]

How much feed are you giving them?
Are you feeding free choice?
Are you feeding the chicks starter or layer?

 

[chickenshagg]

How old is your EE? I know that chickens start laying smaller eggs when they get old. I would guess that if you just got her she would not be too old. Have you tried feeding them oyster shells?

 

[12toomany]

Quote:
we mixed oyster shells into their feed. i think the bag said 1 pound per 20 ponds of feed. i am sure that is what we did. is this enough?

How much feed are you giving them?
Are you feeding free choice?
Are you feeding the chicks starter or layer?


we are feeding free choice (i guess) we bought a large hanging feeder for the 2 pullets. the babies are getting starter feed (they cannot reach the hanging feeder).
they are eating he leaves off of the bok choy, leaving the stems (or I clean them out before they get to them?)

the strange thing is that each and every egg is noticeably smaller than the one before it, with no 2 week lapse in production as we were told when we bought it (from a local farm, who buys them in, does not breed)
also, is the bloom the dark skin that just came off the egg DH washed earlier today (he soaked it in an enzyme solution)

thanks!

 

[gritsar]

Do a search here on BYC for what I call pullet bullets. I get them from time to time. Nothing to worry about.
I'm noticing more egg deformities lately as our temps. have soared into the 100s. I'm chalking it up to the heat. If I had an egg to lay every day in this miserable heat, I'd get it over with asap too.
Edited to add this link that explains alot of egg differences:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/ourbooks/1/egg-quality-handbook/