Egg Size

[pdblake]

Just an observation here. I've weighed a few of our eggs, which are all pretty much the same size and they work out as being classed as very large, as opposed to medium or small according to a website I found that shows how to grade them.

Now our hens get fed organic layers pellets and greens. The don't get spoiled or even that many treats, they seem happy enough to fight over the odd slug they find to be honest.

Down the road we have a butcher where we used to regularly buy trays of battery eggs before we got our hens, and they were all 'small', not just in grading, but in size.

My question is, just how do they go about getting hens to lay different sized eggs? Not that I want to, just interested in the answer.

Given that supermarkets sell small, medium and large in what look to be fairly standard stock quantities I can't see that chicken farms are taking pot luck and just packaging up what they happen to get. They must be forcing it through conditions or feed somehow. Or is it breeding?

If it is feed then I can't imagine how little I would have to feed our hens to get small eggs out of them, they don't exactly eat masses as it is.

Can anyone shed any light?

[Bayleaf]

Variation in egg size is not engineered, indeed, commercially they'd love to have all the same size, preferably just big enough to scrape into the size that sells most as that would produce the best return. Sales are manipulated to some extent by pricing so that all sizes tend to sell in the right proportions. Any excess of any size and very large and very small generally go for catering/food manufacturing/drying etc..
Egg size is partly genetic, partly related to diet and general conditions, partly due to the age of the hen and partly related to where in the laying cycle the hen is.
All eggs are graded if they are sold by size - any egg unit produces a mix of sizes.
Very many eggs sold from flats in butchers and the like are pullet eggs - the very first eggs produced by a flock - small, or get labelled as such.

[pdblake]

So it really is pot luck then?

[Bayleaf]

Yes and no - commercial hens are selected strains that produce maximum numbers of eggs for minimum input etc. etc. and only eggs that are saleable via retail routes get sent for retail sales.
Comparing what a commercial unit would produce with one or other traditional breeds, or crosses, in a garden is not really comparing the same thing.
The egg industry is geared to produce what the "housewife" (aka supermarkets) want - neither too big nor too small, and any that are, are diverted from the housewife.

[bluemoon]

My sister-in-law's dad used to have an 'egg-round' (they had a small-holding) In spring his new pullets would lay hundreds of eggs that he just couldn't sell as they were too small and he'd give them away. 'Would you like some eggs?' he once asked me. 'Ooh, yes please' I said, thinking the kids, who were toddlers at the time, would enjoy them as they were small ones. I ended up with 7 dozen!!!! The kids were eating them, the dogs were eating them, we were planning meals that could be eaten with Yorkshire Pudding every night. I finally scrambled the last 4 for the dogs and breathed a sigh of relief and there was a knock at the door, there he stood with another armful.....this time seven and a half dozen. fortunately after this the pullets were laying big enough ones to sell.

[RichmondHens]

I'm certainly familiar with the "what shall I do with eggs today" thing. Since moving here my hens have laid better than ever (I blame it on the air since nothing else has changed in their management). But it's certainly hit and miss with sizing. I have welsummers who lay a mixture of sized eggs - mostly large but one particular bird lays a small egg. Again in the cross breed section, the older birds mainly lay large eggs (in fact one lays ENORMOUS eggs - we call them Barbie bombs). Bantams too lay a mixture of sizes - with some laying tiny eggs and some laying almost the same size as a regular hen's egg.

It is said though, in the second year of lay, a hen will lay less eggs, but larger ones. Several of mine are in their third year and are certainly laying larger eggs, but MORE than in previous years! Any clues on that? My oldest bantam hen is now 7 and still laying an egg a day, for most of the year, taking time out to brood once at some point in the summer. She is my little star.

[Bayleaf]

A move to new ground and buildings, unused for/by poultry, will always give you healthier poultry for a while. They may not be ill on used ground, but they will have a very minor on-going battle with all manner of pests - fresh ground will also often provide extra titbits and minor nutrients for a while.

[Snadger]

The only thing that appears to have been omitted is SUNLIGHT. My chooks can choose between sunlight and shade and (I'm blowing my own trumpet here...and the chooks of course!) mine are the only chooks on the allotments where I keep them which give a regular supply of large eggs and have done all winter. Plotholders tend to put there chooks in areas where they can't grow crops, usually shady and damp. I believe chooks NEED sunlight. A happy well fed chook will lay more and larger eggs.

Bayleaf appears to have hit the nail on the head as regards reasons for varying egg size though!

[Bayleaf]

Hmmmmmm............ I don't recall seeing any open-topped batteries.........

[Hilary B]

If there are no problems to cause variation, a chook will lay much the same size eggs, but getting a bit bigger each laying season as she gets older. Feed, daylight, sunshine, and stress (or unstress) may adjust how OFTEN she lays (and if all those stay the same, the eggs will become less numerous as they get bigger, normally).
The beginning and end of a laying session can produce variations (including softies).

[Snadger]

Hmmmmmm............ I don't recall seeing any open-topped batteries.........

No there isn't .........it's called 'Free Range' Battery cages just have 24 hour simulated day light from electric lights!

[RichmondHens]

A move to new ground and buildings, unused for/by poultry, will always give you healthier poultry for a while. They may not be ill on used ground, but they will have a very minor on-going battle with all manner of pests - fresh ground will also often provide extra titbits and minor nutrients for a while.

They've always been healthy. They've always been free range. The bantams are completely loose, and always have been. They had 0.75 of an acre before (in Suffolk). They've now got 6! The large hens have a large fenced enclosure (50 m) which is moved every 3 months onto fresh ground - again a system I have always used. They've been out on a pony paddock for the first half of the year and now in an orchard area. They sleep in a combination of home built hen houses (that travelled with us) and a stable. Really, truly, they have always been kept like this and all look and behave the same as ever. Just more eggs!!!

[Snadger]

They've always been healthy. They've always been free range. The bantams are completely loose, and always have been. They had 0.75 of an acre before (in Suffolk). They've now got 6! The large hens have a large fenced enclosure (50 m) which is moved every 3 months onto fresh ground - again a system I have always used. They've been out on a pony paddock for the first half of the year and now in an orchard area. They sleep in a combination of home built hen houses (that travelled with us) and a stable. Really, truly, they have always been kept like this and all look and behave the same as ever. Just more eggs!!!

Would they mind if i moved in with them?

[pdblake]

We've only had ours for not quite three months. They were point of lay when we got them and, going by the replies, I can expect their eggs to get bigger.

I sized them using the info here: Identifying Eggs At Broadland Eggs - Egg Producer & Supplier Based In Stalham, Norwich, Norfolk, UK

They are already laying 'large/very large' (borderline and using kitchen scales) according to that chart. Can I expect watering eyes next year then?