Whadda you think? Update

[woodmort]

First the background: Last spring a weasel killed all but 2 of my EE hens. The pair--along with one remaining Black Star--stopped laying right after the attack, I wasn't all that surprised since they were 5 or 6 years old--it may be mother/daughter or sisters I'm not sure because all the EE's were hatched here over a period of two years . At any rate at the end of May I got 6 more straight-run EE chicks of which only 1 turned out to be a rooster. Over the summer one of the pullets was killed by a hawk leaving me with 6 potential laying EE's.

Now fast forward to today. This morning I found the first green/blue egg in the nest. The trouble is I'm not sure if it is from the older hens or one of the pullets as it seems a bit large for an EE pullet egg. The reason I'd like to be sure is that I've been holding off feeding layer until all the pullets are laying and these EE's are the last ones--my other Black Star pullets have been laying for at least a couple of weeks. Below is a picture of the egg laying along side an BS pullet egg--the green one is a bit larger. I'd kinda like your opinion--nothing like a pooling of our ignorance.

Thanks.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I'd say that is a pullet egg.

 

[Uzuri]

I could go either way. My older girls lay smaller eggs periodically and my pullets this year started out laying pretty big, so you never can be sure unless you catch 'em at it.

Regardless, you're probably safe starting the layer now anyway, especially if you already have other youngin's laying.

 

[CMV]

That egg had to come from an older bird. It's a pretty good size. My EEs from this year are laying the tiniest eggs. They make the rest of my pullet eggs look full-sized in comparison.

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
That is my line of thought. Normally, even full grown EE eggs are smaller than, say sex-links, unless there is more than one yolk.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If you want ignorance, I can help. That is not clear-cut. Just for fun, I compared a 7 month old pullet's egg (she started laying about 2-1/2 months ago) with a year and a half old's egg. Not EE's obviously. I think the size of an EE's egg will depend somewhat on what breeds are in her. I don't know what rooster fathered your chicks either and that could make a difference in the size egg his offspring will produce.

But you know your EE and what size egg she lays so I'll go partly on your judgment and expect you to know what to expect. I also remember how small that 7 month old's egg was a couple of months ago. I don't think a 5 month old EE will lay an egg that big. Maybe after they get that old, your older one's egg size drops? I did not think so, but they do sometimes become less than perfect when the hen gets older. I'll vote for the older hen''s egg.

 

[woodmort]

No green eggs today so I suspect it was the older hen. If one of the pullets started she'd either lay again today or one of her sisters would have. In fact, none of them look especially ready.

 

[Lbrad7]

I know its strange buy my EE pullets just stated laying a few weeks ago and they skipped the "pullet egg size" starter eggs and went straight to large. There was some blood on the shells for a couple days but now they are doing fine.

 

[woodmort]

Took 5 days to get another green egg and, since it is the same size as the first, I'm assuming it is the older bird and the EE pullets haven't started yet.