Today I found a tiny egg...

[BreanneRN]

And I really want to hatch it, just because it is so cute. It is brown, about 1 1/2 " long and an inch wide... The chickens in the coop are young and include several varieties of Cochins, 3 EE's (including a rooster), 2 speckled sussex hens and a light brahma hen. Also, there has been some rooster fence hopping by the Speckled Sussex roo. It is my 1st egg and I don't know who layed it. It seems like a normal egg in every way except size. 2 of the cochins are roosters. Would it be alright to hatch it? These are all large fowl breeds and I wonder if the chick size is controlled by egg size or whether the chick would grow uncontrollably in it's shell until it couldn't anymore? I guess this is called a fairy egg, and I know some people advise not to try to hatch them. Has anyone ever tried?

 

[Redhead Rae]

And I really want to hatch it, just because it is so cute. It is brown, about 1 1/2 " long and an inch wide... The chickens in the coop are young and include several varieties of Cochins, 3 EE's (including a rooster), 2 speckled sussex hens and a light brahma hen. Also, there has been some rooster fence hopping by the Speckled Sussex roo. It is my 1st egg and I don't know who layed it. It seems like a normal egg in every way except size. 2 of the cochins are roosters. Would it be alright to hatch it? These are all large fowl breeds and I wonder if the chick size is controlled by egg size or whether the chick would grow uncontrollably in it's shell until it couldn't anymore? I guess this is called a fairy egg, and I know some people advise not to try to hatch them. Has anyone ever tried?

It sounds like a fairy egg. I wouldn't try hatching it. It probably isn't fertile, and if it is, there isn't enough room for the chick to grow properly inside and it will most likely die in the shell. If you want to keep it, I would suggest blowing it out and washing the inside. I know a lot of people who do that with their fairy eggs.

 

[SueT]

A fairy egg has no yolk. It wouldn't hatch.

And a very tiny pullet egg, even if it had a yolk, as previous post says, doesn't have room for a chick to grow.

 

[BreanneRN]

Today, I found a 2nd tiny egg, out in the coop area, but it had a crack in it, so I ate it for breakfast... It had a yolk, so I guess they aren't fairy eggs, just "beginner eggs". Do hope they get bigger! All the chickens in that pen are LF birds, and this is smaller than a bantam egg. Probably not from the EE's, though those are the smallest birds I have in that coop. I'm thinking maybe my little black Cochin hen...

 

[Redhead Rae]

Today, I found a 2nd tiny egg, out in the coop area, but it had a crack in it, so I ate it for breakfast... It had a yolk, so I guess they aren't fairy eggs, just "beginner eggs". Do hope they get bigger! All the chickens in that pen are LF birds, and this is smaller than a bantam egg. Probably not from the EE's, though those are the smallest birds I have in that coop. I'm thinking maybe my little black Cochin hen...

Probably, Cochins lay suprisingly small eggs for their size. Their eggs are usually a medium sized egg when full grown.