size of eggs

[Donna Bowden]

The last two days are the first time for my hen to lay her first eggs..yay..but both days they are 1/2 the size they should be. Is this normal for beginners?

 

[Catus]

Yes, eggs are rather small at the beginning.
My Brahma mix (looks like Brahma, but is not purebred) first eggs were 45-50 grams, now (year later) she lays eggs around 65 grams. But one ex-battery hen lays eggs mostly over 80 grams, so it depends also on breed.

 

[SueT]

Perfectly normal. You wouldn't want it any other way.

 

[ChookRanger]

Absolutely normal. New layers might even lay tiny eggs without a yolk for a little while. Also, some hens just lay smaller eggs..

 

[madcatter69]

Hello evryone I just joined BYC today! I've been going to the site for a year now looking for information about chickens and wow what a great resource! I've already successfully conquered brooding hens, predator attacks, introducing new youngsters and one eggbound and really sick Ben and all thanks to the advice and information on BYC! Soooo... Thanks Everyone, I'm super excited to be a member! p.s. I love all the pics and stories. I can't wait till I figure out how to post some pics of my own.
About the small eggs, I collected my youngest girls first egg yesterday and it wasn't much bigger than a quarter!

 

[aart]

They will get bigger soon....but could take weeks (or months) to get up to a standard 'medium' or 'large' size/weight.
. Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

They will get bigger soon....but could take weeks (or months) to get up to a standard 'medium' or 'large' size/weight.
. Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

X 2 -- there are all sorts of wonky things you can see when their system is first getting all the moving parts up and running to produce eggs.

 

[chickB26]

I collected first eggs yesterday. Just weighed them..they're about 1.40oz. 3 eggs from 10 girls yesterday, 1 today. However, I don't know who is producing

 

[aart]

I collected first eggs yesterday. Just weighed them..they're about 1.40oz. 3 eggs from 10 girls yesterday, 1 today. However, I don't know who is producing

Can check pelvic points to see who is laying and who is not........
.......but to find which bird is laying which egg, you'll have to stalk the coop and catch 'em at it, or have a really good set of cameras set up and have the patience to scan all the footage.

Vent:
Dry, tight, and smaller - usually not laying.
Moist, wide, and larger - usually laying

Pelvic Points 2 bony points(pelvic bones) on either side of vent:
Less than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means not laying.
More than 2 fingertip widths apart usually means laying.

 

[madcatter69]

I'm pretty sure both of my youngest have started laying but I think I will check the pelvic points just to get an idea for the next group of chicks. What about my older girl's? Out of 10 hens I get 5-9 eggs but the average is 7 a day. I can only identify 3 of them for sure, they are all leghorns and they are the only ones who lay white eggs. How can I tell which one of my older girl's isn't laying anymore. Also is it common for them to stop laying at only 3 years old?