Pullet eggs from full grown hens??

[Qi Chicken]

OUr hens are in the middle of a molt I think. All through the winter we were getting 8-10/13. We are now getting 0-4/13 and almost all the ones we are getting are from our easter eggers. All green in other words.

But here is my question! We got two teensy brown eggs today. Similar to when they first began to lay. Do they kind of start small again after a molt? This is our first full year with chickens and I have never read about this phenomenon. Thanks for the help. We are coming up on their first birthday! April 5!

 

[klmclain1]

Are these the famed "fart" eggs? Tiny with no yolk??

 

[Qi Chicken]

Don't know. We just got them today. But they look just like the little tiny pullet eggs we first got when they started to lay. I'll crack one and let you know. Bet you a dollar they have a yolk in them though! I just never knew they did this, chickens are the most interesting things!

 

[Qi Chicken]

More small eggs today. So, DO chickens revert to pullet sized eggs after a molt??? Is this common? Have not cracked one yet. Have noticed a couple of soft shelled eggs, free choice oyster shell still available. It seems like they have to start all over.

 

[aggie9296]

1 of my older hens molted in Feb and did not lay for almost 2 weeks. When she started laying again, they were normal sized.

 

[dragonlair]

A couple of mine just started back up after their winter sabbatical and the eggs are normal sized.

 

[Qi Chicken]

Ok, so ours are weird, or we have tiny invisible chickens laying miniature eggs in our coop. Stranger things have happened I guess. The eggs are registering small on the scale. They were ALL at least medium to extra large. I like the little ones though, they are cute.

 

[chickee]

Growing in feathers after a molt takes a lot of protein. To get good egg size your birds need protein. I usually feed Purina Flock raiser but decided to change to an organic layer pellet and the size of my chickens eggs got smaller. Once back on the Flock raiser the egg size got larger. I would up their protein intake and see if that is why you are getting smaller eggs. Good luck

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Sometimes after they've stopped laying for some reason, like being broody or a hard molt, one of mine will lay a pullet egg when she first starts laying. They go back to a normal sized egg right after that, though. Most of mine have started back up with a normal sized egg.