3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[Mrs Potts]

Do their combs shrink? Do their eggs get smaller?

 

I am sure that Hettie's comb is decreasing in size and her eggs are definitely now a bit smaller (she lays the speckled ones). She lays once every six days or so week, but spends the day before each laying hunched and standing still, one legged, so I am guessing it is uncomfortable for her too. On the days inbetween she is a different hen, free ranging and looking perky, but wondered if the comb and egg size were signs of old age?

 

Thank you.

 

[Ain't Nobody Here]

My girls' combs definitely get smaller and paler as they get older. I always thought eggs got bigger though (mine always seem to stop laying before they get old so I have no personal experience of this ).

[Space Chick]

Their combs definitely shrink.

 

My experience has been that the girls eggs get larger.... However my one exception to this is my Speckledy who lays speckled eggs... Maybe it's a speckled egg thing

[quickcluck]

With my girls the combs have shrunk big time. The eggs got huge with a very thin shell and a bit stringy when cracked

[Mrs Potts]

Ew - thank you for the warning on stringy eggs. Her comb seems smaller each week, so I'll keep her as perked up for as long as I can.

 

It's so lovely keeping them, even if they are old and irregular layers, and let the sparrows eat breakfast from the grubs first. It's lovely hearing them purr when they get let out to free range, even when it is cold and grey. If it hadn't been for a very distant childhood memory and the confidence given by reading this forum, I'd have missed out on such a lot - so thank you, Omlet, and thank you, forum members.

 

Mrs Potts