Category: eggs

Egg!

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop, eggs

Wing ding the Black Star hen has started laying again.

Photo description: metal nest box lined with straw with a golf ball and egg

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.

Fairy egg

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs

I had a bit of a shock looking for eggs in the nesting boxes recently, a very tiny egg.

Photo description: brown egg on a scale reading 17 grams

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.

Photo description: cracked egg with only egg white, 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.

Different

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs, Tools
Photo description: three eggs held in my hand outside the coop, with egg weights digitally added: 45g, 54g, 31g

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!

Egg!

On By CarynIn chickens, eggs

A few days ago I noticed one of the hens exhibiting squat behavior, which usually means they are getting ready to lay eggs. Sure enough, I found our first egg of Spring! It is a month later than last year, which was a month later than the year before. The hens are nearly 5 years old, so not terribly surprising. Spring tends to have a higher mortality rate as their reproductive track kicks back into gear, so I’ll need to keep a closer eye on them. We are down to five hens at the moment. They all weathered the Winter just fine, although I’d hesitate to call the last three months “winter” here in TX. It was more of a long wet fall.