Some eggs are smaller than usual

[Handsome Jack]

My hens are about 13 months old. They have been laying since last July. In the beginning I got the pullet eggs but as the hens matured the eggs got bigger, most to jumbo size. I still get jumbo from most but I do have some hens laying smaller eggs recently. They are free range during the day and put themselves up at night. They receive scratch and laying pellets plus a head of cabbage every other day along with whatever they find during the day outside. Any ideas on why some of the eggs have gotten smaller?

 

[Mountain Peeps]

It may be due to lack of exercise, poor nutrition or stress. Remember, hens should be eating a 16-18% protein layer feed along with calcium and greens. They should have plenty of room to roam and exercise and they shouldn't be stressed.( No over-crowding, dangers of predators, etc.) Also, it could be due to lack of water. My hens' eggs shrunk when they went without water for just a few hours!!

Hope this helps

 

[Ridgerunner]

Maybe it is springtime causing that? One factor that affects egg size is the amount of protein they eat in a day. It’s not how much is in one bite but how many total grams of protein they eat in a day. Possibly since the forage is getting better, they are eating more low-protein stuff than they did in the winter. Have you noticed them not eating as much of the Layer as they did in the winter?

Scratch is generally lower protein than Layer, though they tend to like scratch better than Layer. You might help out the egg size by reducing or eliminating scratch. That way they might eat more of the Layer.

 

[Handsome Jack]

We sat out a gamecam and found we've got at least 1 coyote and 1 fox along with 1 raccoon stalking the hen house at night. We've got them penned up right now as we lost 3 hens week before last. I also found a chicken snake in the roost 2 days ago - huge snake and he was eating my eggs for at least a week. Sooo so much for stress and not a lot of exercise!

While they do get out in the evening and forage we also give them a head of cabbage to peck on along with their scratch and lay pellets. They seem to always eat both but not a lot of scratch is given.

I really appreciate ya'lls help