Question about egg size

[Balloonjuice]

My chickens have been laying for a little over a month now -- they actually started a little earlier than I expected them to. The breed is called "Red Star," but I think they are also called Red Sex Links. They have laid a few "medium" size eggs, but almost all the eggs have been small. I'm judging size based on weight in oz of S <1.75; M 1.75-2.0; L >2.0.

Can I do anything with their feed that will increase the size of their eggs? Honestly I was expecting large eggs by now. I'm feeding them a layer formula crumbles from a local feed mill. I make extra calcium available in the form of oyster shells. They free range all day long and I make sure they never run out of crumbles or fresh water.

Any suggestions? If someone needs more info in order to help, let me know.

TIA

 

[Kelsie2290]

Not sure if you have seen some of the laying chart, ie below is the ISA Brown one, another RSL, depending on how old your girls actually are they are probably within what they aim for production wise... Protein% / feed in general will affect eggs size, so you could up that (easiest way is probably to put them on chick starter or add game bird feed etc to diet. .. but it sounds like you are feeding a commercial diet, they are usually around 16% protein?, (don't know what they are getting free range or in scraps?) but you don't want to push young pullets too hard to lay big eggs too soon or it can cause problems.
http://www.isapoultry.com/~/media/F...roduction_report_cage_production_system_1.pdf

 

[JMarch]

they'll get bigger soon- they're still young and their oviducts are still small and haven't loosened up yet to encompass larger eggs yet. You can add a little extra protein- sometimes that will help with young pullets, but monitor for problems.

 

[Balloonjuice]

Thanks for the info Kelsie.

Yes, the feed is 16% protein, 2.5% fat, and 4% calcium. If I needed to add more protein, would meal worms be mostly protein or should I stick with seed. They do free range about 13 hours a day right now, so I'm guessing they must be finding a grub occasionally. I know they love hanging out by the compost bin.

JMarch -- sounds like you're advising patience. Thanks for that as well. Sometimes we expect those girls to work on our schedule instead of mother nature's.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Dried mealworms are usually listed at around 50% protein, so they are high, grains/seeds really vary so it would depend on what you have available... usually the easiest/cheapest thing to do is just get some game bird food, that is usually 30+% and mix it with the regular Layer food, or just feed them chick starter (usually around 20%),,, have oyster shell on the side. But it sounds like it is mostly just an age thing with your girls.