Wilma Laid a Whopper!

[Chikk]

Wow! I was surprised to see Wilma's jumbo egg this morning. Is it common for size to vary that much from day to day?

 

[Twistedfeather]

How old is this bird? It's really common for old hens and young pullets to lay double yolkers (this what I thinks in it)

 

[Chikk]

She's about nine months old. Just started laying in early December.
Yesterday's egg was a tad over 2 ounces. Today's weighed 3.5 ounces!


I've been crushing eggshell and mixing in with scraps. Wilma loves it- gobbles it up like candy. Maybe she's getting too much?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

She's not getting too much calcium...if she were you'd see calcium deposits on the egg shell.

I think Wilma simply lays larger eggs....I had a Delaware that would lay normal eggs, and then throw a huge double yolker. Some hens simply do that more often. I had a NH that did it nearly weekly. I weighed one a 3.5 ounces....and it had 2 very large yolks in it.

It has something to do with the timing in the egg tract so that another yolk descends before the first is done going through the track so that they get encapsulated together. Genetics probably has more to do with it than any feed you are giving her.

LofMc

 

[krista74]

New pullets fairly fresh into laying will quite often lay unusual eggs - big ones, tiny ones, eggs with no yolk, double yolkers, soft shelled, no shells....they get very creative whilst trying to figure out how to get the egg factory up and running correctly

I wouldn't be concerned about feeding her the egg shells. Most likely she will be needing the extra calcium anyway.

Sounds like you have a great little layer on you hands. Enjoy the eggs!

- Krista

 

[Chikk]

Thanks you guys, for the good info. I'm eager to see what's inside, but I want to show it off a bit first.

This is unrelated, but I have to share. It was so funny-Betty flew the coop without a flight plan and landed in powdery snow. She stood there like that for the longest time, looking for her feet. Where did they go? She finally figured out that she could still walk and she trudged back to the henhouse.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thanks you guys, for the good info. I'm eager to see what's inside, but I want to show it off a bit first.

This is unrelated, but I have to share. It was so funny-Betty flew the coop without a flight plan and landed in powdery snow. She stood there like that for the longest time, looking for her feet. Where did they go? She finally figured out that she could still walk and she trudged back to the henhouse.