Why are my eggs so small?

[Finally chickens!]

Why are my five month old Barred Rocks continually laying small ... 2 inch .... eggs? They are good eggs, yolk and all, but they have been laying them for almost a month now. All three of them lay tiny eggs almost every day.

 

[nuthatched]

Some chickens just lay puny eggs. Or they're working up to it, egg laying is still a new process for them. There's a small chance it's diet, what do you feed them?

 

[Pampered chicken girl]

How long have they been laying. If they recently started then that's normal. Can you post pictures of the eggs?

 

[SueT]

Young pullets like yours lay small eggs at first. It’s perfectly normal, they are called ‘pullet eggs.’ Next year, the eggs will be bigger.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

They might change over time! Here is a fun picture I took recently of a few eggs from my young hens (just barely laying) and my 11 month old hen. I remember when that first hen started laying, all the eggs were much smaller.

Give it a while!

 

[aart]

Why are my five month old Barred Rocks continually laying small ... 2 inch .... eggs? They are good eggs, yolk and all, but they have been laying them for almost a month now. All three of them lay tiny eggs almost every day.

Weigh them on a gram scale to observe small increases.
It can take up to 6 months for eggs to get to their 'normal'(for that bird) size.

 

[TooManyEggs]

If you want large eggs from the getgo, ISA Browns are the breed of choice, IMO. They large consistently large to extra large eggs from about the week after they come into lay. The largest egg I have weighed from one of them was 112 grams! They do wear out faster, as they seem to lay basically every day unless they are molting, but if it is good size eggs you are after, you can't go wrong with them. Make sure you feed them well. Vitamin supplements in the water (Rooster Booster I highly recommend. Fixed a lameness problem I had with a Barred Rock hen), good, higher protein feed (I feed mine Purina flock raiser), some forage and mealworms, oyster shell.

Generally my consistently smallest eggs came from boutique breeds like Jungle Fowl and Crested Cream Legbar. They are fun, but in the end, I am in this for eggs and meat, not to feed cute looking freeloaders. Neither breed has been good for either, IME. Plus they are way more human aggressive/distant or at least less respect than the ISA Browns and Bielefelders I have had. Same with Barred Rocks. I hated my Barred Rocks. I didn't eat them but I did manage to rehome them. Never having them again. Eggs medium, temperament bad, health problems more than my other breeds.

TL;DR - Get ISA Browns for good sized eggs and human friendly and curious chickens. I am having my first go with Bielefelders and they are so sweet and non-aggressive (including the cockrel), I think in the future I will only have them in their own pens away from other breeds, but they do get huge, FAST.

 

[Finally chickens!]

Some chickens just lay puny eggs. Or they're working up to it, egg laying is still a new process for them. There's a small chance it's diet, what do you feed them?

They have been laying for about a month and all four (3 Barred Rocks, 1 Australorp) are laying tiny eggs. I don't think I've ever had a chicken do this? They get Purina Layena, free choice oyster and grit and free range 2-3 hours a day.

 

[Finally chickens!]

If you want large eggs from the getgo, ISA Browns are the breed of choice, IMO. They large consistently large to extra large eggs from about the week after they come into lay. The largest egg I have weighed from one of them was 112 grams! They do wear out faster, as they seem to lay basically every day unless they are molting, but if it is good size eggs you are after, you can't go wrong with them. Make sure you feed them well. Vitamin supplements in the water (Rooster Booster I highly recommend. Fixed a lameness problem I had with a Barred Rock hen), good, higher protein feed (I feed mine Purina flock raiser), some forage and mealworms, oyster shell.

Generally my consistently smallest eggs came from boutique breeds like Jungle Fowl and Crested Cream Legbar. They are fun, but in the end, I am in this for eggs and meat, not to feed cute looking freeloaders. Neither breed has been good for either, IME. Plus they are way more human aggressive/distant or at least less respect than the ISA Browns and Bielefelders I have had. Same with Barred Rocks. I hated my Barred Rocks. I didn't eat them but I did manage to rehome them. Never having them again. Eggs medium, temperament bad, health problems more than my other breeds.

TL;DR - Get ISA Browns for good sized eggs and human friendly and curious chickens. I am having my first go with Bielefelders and they are so sweet and non-aggressive (including the cockrel), I think in the future I will only have them in their own pens away from other breeds, but they do get huge, FAST.

I don't find my Barred Rocks to be any less "friendly" than my Leghorns, Marans or Australorp. My RIR rooster is, oddly, my nicest chicken.

I've had about 2 dozen of these tiny eggs so far. (They make cute deviled eggs.) I just don't understand why they are staying small? The chickens are big. They've only laid 2 normal sized eggs in a month. Both of them were double yolks. Meanwhile the Leghorns and Marans chug along, laying like normal.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

Here is what Meyer hatchery has to say about the phenomenon: Pullet Eggs