Egg production

[Sharon Yorks]

I'm just curious as to how often or how many eggs a typical Ameraucana pullet usual lays. I never really kept track until this past December when I wanted to hatch out an early batch for our fair and collected eggs from 3 hens. In 10 days, all 3 hens gave me 7 eggs each, and since one of the hens wasn't related to the other two, I figured that must be around the normal average.

The pullet we took to the fair started laying the day before we left (Friday the 27th) and has given me 10 eggs in the past 13 days, not counting today. This seems odd to me given the fact she went from a stable home surroundings with an outside run, to a small hot cage with lots of people around for an entire week...although 30 minutes after we got there she was fluffing, scratching, and rolling around in her cage like she couldn't care less.

She was hatched on January 21 so that makes her a little over 6 month old. The majority of the rest of my females are either broody or molting so I'm really happy she's laying so well. Just wondering if this sounds exceptional or somewhat the norm.

--Sharon

[Mike Gilbert]

Large fowl or bantam?   My large fowl (brown reds) are very good layers, though the eggs run small to medium usually.   Different strains may be better or worse than others.

[Sharon Yorks]

This is a Large fowl blue that is out of a splash male and the black hen that is pictured with me. The first few eggs this pullet laid were kind of small but now are moving up to medium. Her mother lays a nice large egg. Both are good in color. I just didn't know if 5 eggs a week was normal. I never kept close track before, but I guess the more I think about it, if my others are laying 7 in 10 days, that averages out to about the same in 3 weeks. 

[Russ]

My Black/Blue pens of L.F. lay my biggest (lg-xlg) and bluest eggs, but my L.F. Silver lay the most (md-lg) but are lighter blue. I have noticed on average I get 3-4 a week per Black hen and a 4-5 a week per Silver except in winter of course. So I would say you got some exceptional layers. I do know of 1 Black hen that does lay 5-6 a week consistently but unfortunately is light in weight and has bad pupil shape so I don't use her for breeding. I do enjoy her eggs though  .

[jerryse]

My bantam whites lay the best of any of my varieties.Egg size is very good for bantam.About 16 oz per dozen.Last year a pen of 15 consistantly laid 12 eggs a day all spring,summer,and into fall.After moulting I let them rest for the winter.Even without extra light they still lay some in the winter.

[Tailfeathers]

I only have the WBS variety and I'm not at home right now so I can't say presently.  Having said that, egg productivity has been a concern for me the last couple of years.  Some may recall that I posted a few years agp saying that I had several hens that hadn't given me an egg in 6-9 months - and I keep my birds on 15 hours of light year round. 

Due to that problem, I put egg production at the top of my priorities for breeding and took steps to correct it.  One of those steps was breeding two of my BW hens that gave me 5 eggs a week each.  But one laid a white egg for all intents and purposes and the other a VERY light blue egg.  At the same time I culled a bunch of birds from a line that I had identified as passing on brown egg genes.  The result was increased egg production but I also had pullets from a couple of lines that were laying a white egg. 

I'm not in my second year since then and am seeing better production but still have not totally eliminated the white eggs.  So this year I took some drastic steps, modified my breeding plan significantly, and am hopeful that I'll have all blue eggs next year.

Btw, once the eggs are full size, they usually are between 1.8 and 2.0 ounces.  Every now and then I'll get one that is bigger.

God Bless,

[Sharon Yorks]

As of yesterday, she's up to 13 eggs in 17 days. I hope she continues with this kind of egg production and passes it on to her future chicks. I'll have to get me one of those egg weighing thingamajiggies. I'd also like to get me a bird weighing scale. Where do you get them?

[far149]

I use a digital postal scale with a piece of carpet on top (to keep the bird from slipping on the slick surface) to weigh my birds. You could also use it to weigh your eggs. Stromberg's is one source for egg scales.

[Christie Rhae]

I use a scale that came from a reggae shop (don't ask..lol).  I put a small rubber band on the scale and set the egg on it.  It keeps the egg from rolling off and doesn't weigh much.  You can zero out the scale.
Just chiming in.. lol! 

[Tailfeathers]

Thought y'all might like to know that I've got one BW Ameraucana that has been giving me about 3-4 eggs per week WITHOUT any lights on.

My egg production has dropped almost completely off on all my breeds.  I just attributed it to birds that were either going into, currently in, or coming out of a molt.  But then I noticed just a couple of days ago that the lights to the coop weren't plugged in like they were supposed to be.  Long story but it happened while I was away from the home.

Anyways, as I was reading this post, it made me think that I've been getting the one blue egg without any lights.  And the great news is, she's a keeper for breeding.  I'll actually be taking her to the show on the 17th.

God Bless,

[Sharon Yorks]

I'm a little leery of using artificial light. I know many do without problems, but when I tried it last fall, one of my hens started laying a gi-normous egg that most of the chicks were having trouble hatching out of. I stopped using the light and her egg slowly reduced to normal. I'm sure it was just a freak thing, but I've elected to let nature take it's course. I DO turn on a several lights in the coop, but that is just during the day to brighten it up in the coop. Here in Ohio, we have some dreary grey days.

All of my hens have stopped laying, and my pullets that were hatched March 15th and April 7th are just now starting to check out the hen boxes. No eggs yet though. Seven months seems like a long time. The only pullet I have laying right now is (Reba) the little egg machine I started this post about...but then, she didn't start laying until she was a little over 6 months old. I wonder if the egg producing gene follows the mommy or daddy. I have a full brother to her and am wondering if he'll be instrumental in producing good egg layers.