Small eggs...normal?

[RobnCj13]

We have 4 black jersey giants, 2 golden laced wyandots, and 3 Rhode island reds. All are 8 months old, and still laying small eggs. Is this normal?

 

[junebuggena]

It's completely normal. Their eggs will increase in size after their fall molt. Each year, their eggs will get a bit bigger.

 

[RobnCj13]

Thank you. We are new to chickens....we were getting worried that we were doing something wrong. We have another 21 that will be here tomorrow.

 

[pdirt]

If you are comparing your eggs to those you are familiar with from the grocery store, know a couple things:

* Store bought eggs are from very specially bred chickens designed to lay lots of large eggs for a couple years.
* Generally the smaller early eggs (first several months to a year) from those special hens are not sold to humans in egg cartons, they are turned into pet food or other egg products, but not "fresh eggs" in the shells.

You can get some pretty large eggs from typical backyard breeds, sometimes even larger than store bought. But my experience overall is they are slightly smaller to much smaller, depending on the breed.