Whats the youngest age for eggs?

[jgeer]

I have 12 laying hens and 7 pullets, today i found a tiny egg along with the usual ones I get, the hens are well past the pullet egg stage and my young pullets are just going into week 14, is it possible to get and egg from the pullets? I put it next to the smallest two from today. Its only 1/3 the size of my first egg from my laying group when they started out, any help would be great!

 

[TwinsLoveChicks]

I think that hens have to be at least 21 weeks to start laying, so maybe it's a fairy egg?

 

[aart]

14 weeks is a bit young.....unless it's a sexlink/high production bird, then it's possible-but not probable.
Hens can lay an undersized egg on occasion....you may never know unless you find more of the littler ones in the next week.

 

[jgeer]

Well 4 of my pullets are isa browns and the others are barred rocks

 

[donrae]

I'm pretty sure that's a fart/fairy/wind egg from one of your established layers. It's a glitch any hen can toss off once in a while. Basically, she forgets to add the yolk. Then, the same amount of pigment is applied to the smaller egg, giving it a darker color.

The youngest I've had was a very memorable 16 week old red sex link. But 18 weeks is usually the early end of the spectrum.

 

[jgeer]

Thanks for the help, ive never heard of a fairy egg and looked it up and that seams to be the right thing!