what influences small egg size in hen (smaller than Java eggs on avg)?

[haTHOR]

i recently got three 11 mo java pullets/hens (?--i understand this breed is a slow grower). almost immediately, (2 days later) the smallest of the 3 began to lay, making me think she was laying before i got her. she acts younger than the others though...hides under them, keeps her tail down when stressed (like when i am treating them, etc. on the roost at night) but otherwise, free-ranging or in the chicken yard, seems to be doing great.

my question is, why is her egg so small? i have a variety of sizes (my leghorns and EEs are NOT huge) and it is a midget next to them. not a "wind egg", this is every egg so far (and she has layed 4 eggs in 7 days). i understand the java tends to have a large egg. she is roughly 2/3 of the size of the bigger Javas, and her egg is 2/3 the size of an EE (*maybe* my EE is a large, but just barely). it looks like a midget egg!

so is it:
1) her age (i.e., they will likely get bigger)
2) her, in particular, being a "small" expression of her breed? (i want chicks from these hens and want to keep her genetics in consideration)
3) a combination of the two?
4) too soon to say?

what kind of size do you get from javas?

 

[haTHOR]

thoughts?

 

[teach1rusl]

Sorry...I know nothing of javas. However, I do have a young wyandotte who has been laying for about 6 weeks. The breed is known to lay large eggs, but hers are tiny. My other girls (who started laying @ same time) started w/small eggs, but they became bigger pretty quickly. She is a pretty small pullet for the breed, so I've wondered too why her eggs have stayed so small...
Hopefully someone can come up with a concrete answer for you...

 

[fiberart57]

I think that the protein content of their food may have some influence at times. After mine had their bits of hamburger it seemed as though the eggs were a bit bigger than usual.

Mary

 

[onthespot]

my javas are only laying a medium egg right now. Hoping for a larger egg in the future. They are just laying a couple months now.

 

[haTHOR]

how old are your javas?

re: protein...we had a big snowmelt that led to the girls finding LOTS of worms for a few days straight as there was standing water in places and worms were trying to find dry ground. i bet they ate 100 worms a piece. so i am thinking protein in their diet is HIGH right now.

got a first egg out of another java today and it helped answer my ?? a bit...though it was MUCH darker, it was hardly any bigger, and it was from a good sized (8.5 lb) girl. so apparently mama hen being small isn't too correlated.

 

[onthespot]

mine hatched mostly last july