Question about egg size and frequency

[ChlorophyllChick]

We have 2 white leghorns and 3 red sex links. One white leghorn is not laying yet, but all the others are, they started about 2 weeks ago. The white leghorn laid our first egg and all 3 red sex links started within a few days of that. We get 2-3 brown eggs every day and some have gotten quite large so that they are about the size of store bought eggs. However we are only getting one white egg every other day and they are still very small. I thought white leghorns were supposed to be excellent layers, is this normal when they are first starting out? How long does it typically take for their eggs to increase in size? Is it normal that she is only laying every other day while the others are laying almost every day? All are healthy and well fed.

 

[Karen09]

Our leghorn pullets started out smaller and sometimes shell-less (which were interesting) and began laying at 16 - 17 weeks but we had 6 and only got about 3 eggs per day at first. By the time they were 25 weeks, we were getting 4 - 5 per day and then by 6 months, 4 - 6 per day. Do you have them under a light for 14 hours? They need 14 hours of daylight to be laying at their maximum capacity so we would supplement with a light early in the morning and then in the evening to keep it light for 14 hours. Since then, we just let natural sunlight so we do not get as many eggs per day but they lay longer and do not "burn out" as quickly. You might be getting some double yolkers also as they learn how to lay.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

They usually do start out laying smaller eggs. The eggs will get larger as they mature.