Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[AndyRoo]

Well, it looks like Pepper (the Bluebelle) has gotten in to the swing of things and started laying decent eggs.

 

I went out there to check on them this morning and I had my usual white egg (thanks Liz Taylor!), but I was also greeted with what I would consider to be a rather hefty sized egg in the light pink-ish hue that Pepper has been trying to lay lately.

 

It's nearly double the size of the little Ranger's eggs, and bigger still than the normal large eggs the white star produces!

 

I weighed it because I was so surprised and it came in at 86g!! Good for her, but I can't imagine it was a pleasant experience for her!

 

That is large for an egg, right? It's bigger than the 'large' shop bought ones. So big that I can't fully close the egg box!

 

 

 

[Luvachicken]

Some lovely eggs there

 

I used to have a Miss Pepperpot and she used to lay big eggs

[sjp]

86g that'll be a double bubble she's earned extra treats for that

very nice looking eggs the ranger eggs are darker than I thought they'd be

[AndyRoo]

86g that'll be a double bubble she's earned extra treats for that

very nice looking eggs the ranger eggs are darker than I thought they'd be

 

That might be the lighting in which I took the photo. The white eggs look a little cream coloured, but they are actually bright white. The ranger eggs are still quite small, and I'd say in person they're probably about the same colour as shop bought eggs, possibly a little darker.

 

I don't know what hens they used to produce the hybrid, so I have no idea what the 'base' colour eggs would be.

 

And sadly having sworn I wouldn't catch it, I do now have morehens disease. Although my OH's words were "don't you blxxdy dare!". I am going to stick to my guns though and wait until enough hens have passed on and then get 3-4 more at once.

 

8 is a perfectly acceptable sized flock, right?

Edited November 14, 2016 by Guest

[Luvachicken]

8 is a perfectly acceptable sized flock, right?

 

I had 8 at one point so seems like a reasonable size to me.

 

I knew it wouldn't take long for you to get the bug

[Hippie Chick]

Ouch! That's a whopper! Was it a double yolk?

 

UK egg Size Weight

 

Very Large 73g +over

Large 63 - 73g

Medium 53 - 63g

Small 53g or less

[sjp]

none of my mob lay eggs the shade of brown of shop brought eggs so I'm not used to seeing them I get shades of cream with the odd pink shade, green through to blue and then speckled over slightly darker brown than standard mid brown and shades of dark brown and very occasionally a white egg from my gold legbar

[Beantree]

You may have a double-yolk egg layer Andy? We have one hen that lays two eggs within hours of each other, every 3 days.

[Grandmashazzie]

8 is nice Andyroo, maybe Santa is listening .I have 9, it is a lot of poo picking but worth it if the little darlings lay. Sadly mine don't.

[Blackrocksrock]

eggcellent!! may well be a double yoker and they often lay them to start with - she will settle down - nice to have the eggs - lots of baking and cake pictures!!

[AndyRoo]

Ouch! That's a whopper! Was it a double yolk?

 

UK egg Size Weight

 

Very Large 73g +over

Large 63 - 73g

Medium 53 - 63g

Small 53g or less

 

I haven't had it yet, so I'm not sure. I'm making us scrambled eggs at the weekend, so maybe I'll find out then!

 

She has performed the same trick today: we got another 83g egg. I don't know if it's because she is getting used to laying, and we're getting lucky, or if this is going to be a standard thing for her!

[sjp]

some breeds are prone to laying doubles in the early days of egg laying most 'grow' out of it luckily it's not good for them to keep laying doubles once they start producing full sized yolks and their laying 100+ gram eggs plus it reduces the number of eggs laid over the hens life

sadly the odd one doesn't grow out of it and it can end badly

some older hens can lay the occasional double

before I kept chickens I quite liked finding a double bubble in a box off eggs but one of my first birds used to lay 2 or 3 a week and as many softies again I got to the point I don't particularly want them any more the two that got laid last year I gave to my Nephew

[AndyRoo]

She may have already grown out of it. I went out there this morning to be greeted with 3 eggs. The one that I assume was hers is back down to being a bog-standard size egg. Possibly just a little bigger than the ranger eggs.

 

I hope that eventually they all lay eggs about the size of a normal 'large' shop bought one like the white star lays! *crosses fingers*

[sjp]

they should do as that's what their bred for eggs around the 50g to 65g mark for the first year of laying

[AndyRoo]

I made some fudge brownies earlier. I can confirm they were double yolkers!

[AndyRoo]

Well, we got an even bigger egg today!!

 

 

I'll bet that was a bit of a surprise!

[Luvachicken]

That's huge