I was rather startled when I found an egg in the coop. The last time Wingding the Black Star hen laid an egg was in August. My two Faverolle hens haven’t laid any eggs since April. All three hens are about six years old and well past prime laying age.
So I have at least one Faverolle hen laying eggs. I’m shocked because they stopped laying last June, 8 months ago. They are nearly 6 years old, and their window of “egg rest” gets longer every year. The almost pink colored egg on the right is a Faverolle egg. Well, it is a hatchery quality Faverolle egg. Better bred Faverolles lay eggs that can more easily be called pink. Wing Ding the Black Star hen is a good layer and the other darker egg is hers. Another clue that the eggs were laid by two different hens is the weight. Wing Ding seldom lays an egg under 60 grams, my Faverolles almost never lay an egg over 60 grams.
Wing ding the Black Star hen has started laying again.
This is a really good demonstration of the difference between a good layer and fair layers. My Faverolles stopped laying in September and I’m not entirely sure they will ever lay again. They are coming up on their sixth year and their winter egg break keeps getting longer and longer. Even when they are laying, it isn’t every day, but closer to every other day. Wing Ding lays nearly every day. So if you are going for egg production, get a good layer. If you want sweet docile chickens and aren’t as concerned about egg production, then get Faverolles. Know that Faverolles will also be at the bottom of the pecking order if you have a mixed flock. Our flock has everything worked out so that no one’s feathers are being picked to extreme, but they have plenty of space and food and places to hide.
I’m mostly excited the Wing Ding is now laying eggs in the nest boxes in the big coop. The temporary outside coop we set up when the flock was separated gets terribly hot in the summer.
I had a bit of a shock looking for eggs in the nesting boxes recently, a very tiny egg.
I found it where the new chickens lays their eggs, so I’m certain it came from one of the Black Star hens. I broke it open and there was no yolk.
Maybe the term fairy egg comes from the thought that something stole the yolk? That would be old school fairy thinking, not the new tiny jingling sparkly fairies. Either way, it is not something concerning for the health of the chicken, just a hiccup in the production system. I do believe I have something going on with egg production, though. With six hens I’m finding maybe one egg a day. It could be that they are all older, 5 years old, well past prime laying. It could be the stress of a new pecking order or the heat. There could also be something stealing the eggs, although not fairies, but likely a snake sneaking a snack.
I found a small egg in the nest boxes. Although it is a different color than the other two eggs collected that day, it is in the normal coloration of my hen’s eggs, just small. I broke it open and there was a yolk (which surprised me), but very little white.
On the tech side of things, I just discovered that my photo app can add actual text now. I’ve been scribbling with markup, or porting to a different app for text adds for years. I’m not sure when that feature slipped in there, but it does help streamline my workflow. Yay!
Critters and Craft 