RIR Egg Size

[Ridgerunner]

Been there done that with trying to copy tables and such, pain in the rear. So yes that chart now looks like I'd expect it too.

 

[jthornton]

And for a bit more info I've added Eggs Per Day average for the month column (9 is the max).

Month	<PW	PW	S	M	L	XL	J	EPD
December	17.4%	73.9%	4.3%	0%	4.3%	0%	0%	1.9
January	1.5%	28.4%	63.7%	3.5%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	6.5
February	0%	0.5%	55.3%	41.9%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	7.7

JT

 

[jthornton]

February is over with so the totals changed a bit to:

Month	<PW	PW	S	M	L	XL	J	EPD
December	17.4%	73.9%	4.3%	0%	4.3%	0%	0%	1.9
January	1.5%	28.4%	63.7%	3.5%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	6.5
February	0%	0.4%	53.2%	44.2%	0.4%	0.4%	1.3%	8.3

So far this month I've only gotten one small egg and the rest are medium.
JT

 

[brewfarm]

I have a flock of 43 Rhode Island Red Hens. I started out with 49. They started laying at 20 weeks. I've been keeping exact track of weight, size, and eggs per day since I started. Unfortunately I lost the first 4 weeks details. At four weeks 60% of my eggs were mediums, 30% were smalls and I was getting an average of an egg from 75% of my hens per day. After 8 weeks I got no small eggs and half were large eggs. By 12 weeks 30% are medium, 5-10% are extra large the rest are large and I get an egg from 85-90% of my hens per day. Twice I have gotten eggs from every single hen. 30% of the time I get an egg from 95% of the hens. In the first 8 weeks I got 7 Jumbo eggs. All were double yoke. That works out to an average of 3 large cartons a day, roughly 6.5 eggs per hen per week. I have read that RIRs will lay large to extra large eggs and will lay larger eggs after their first molt. So I don't expect them to stop laying medium eggs until next fall. But, on that, I'm just guessing.
I have been obsessing over my numbers for the past week. For some reason, over the past week, I'm only getting eggs from 84% per day. That's a loss of an average 2-3 a day. It may be cyclical, and I haven't found another cause, but I am watching closely.

 

[jthornton]

One thing that skews my data is the first two started to lay at 18 weeks and it was 4 weeks later before all 9 were laying. The first time I got 9 eggs was at week 23 so I assume the later starters are skewing the data to the small size. This being week 28 I have 11% small and 89% medium so that seems pretty close to your data. @brewfarm how many were laying at 20 weeks?

JT

 

[brewfarm]

One thing that skews my data is the first two started to lay at 18 weeks and it was 4 weeks later before all 9 were laying. The first time I got 9 eggs was at week 23 so I assume the later starters are skewing the data to the small size. This being week 28 I have 11% small and 89% medium so that seems pretty close to your data. @brewfarm how many were laying at 20 weeks?

JT

At 20 weeks it started with a drip. I would say only 4-5 were laying right at 20 weeks. By 26 weeks all were laying. You're getting more mediums than I did earlier but, you're tracking about the same as mine. I can't tell which one of my hens exactly are laying since all of them have access to all the nesting boxes. That's the thing that's driving me crazy this week.
I am planning on building a larger coop this summer. If I have the time and money (well, really just the money) I may learn about RFID and set up a system where I can tell which hen is laying, in which box, and when. May also fiddle with temperature and daylight sensors so I can track that exactly as well.

 

[jthornton]

A few days into March (week 28) the numbers change quite a bit. I changed the Eggs Per Day to percent laying... makes more sense.

Month	<PW	PW	S	M	L	XL	J	%
December	17.4%	73.9%	4.3%	0%	4.3%	0%	0%	21%
January	1.5%	28.4%	63.7%	3.5%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	72%
February	0%	0.5%	55.3%	41.9%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	92%
March	0%	0%	14.0%	86.0%	0%	0%	0%	96%

JT

 

[jthornton]

Well March is over with so here are the numbers.

Month	<PW	PW	S	M	L	XL	J	%	Age
December	17.4%	73.9%	4.3%	0%	4.3%	0%	0%	21.3%	18-20
January	1.5%	28.4%	63.7%	3.5%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%	72.0%	20-24
February	0%	0.5%	55.3%	41.9%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	92.5%	24-28
March	0%	0%	7.9%	87.0%	4.3%	0%	0.8%	90.7%	28-32

Edit: I added their age in weeks for reference

JT

 

[jthornton]

I was curious about the weekly numbers for percent laying and egg size. It seems to show a clearer picture about egg size. Interesting that the percent swings up and down so much by week.



JT

 

[aart]

Do those dips correspond with your construction activities...changes in the coop can throw some of them off.

Will be interesting to see long term, if you continue the data collecting.