How many eggs should two be laying a day? I'm confusing myself. I think I read somewhere that they typically lay every other day. I'm sure this is breed specific so let me tell you that I have a silver laced cochin and a red spotted sussex in question.
Lacey (the cochin) was definitely the first to lay. She started out laying every other day for the first 5 eggs. Then we started getting an egg a day for the last week and a half or so. It didn't even dawn on me that Talula (the sussex) might be laying. I just thought that Lacey was picking up production. She's the only one I've caught in the box, but Talula just started squatting a little - not as prominent as Lacey, but a little.
So now I'm questioning whether Talula has been laying for the last week and a half and I didn't even know -- or THANK HER -- or is she just starting to get ready?
Any thoughts from anyone, ie, frequency of laying, color or size variation, to help distinguish between the two would be fun to read.
I guess the next step is to set up a camera or DH suggests a trap door - ha!
How many eggs should I be expecting?
I personally would have thought the cochin eggs would be slightly smaller than the sussex eggs, but maybe not right away. Do all the eggs look pretty much identical in size, color, shape, speckles (if any), and when you crack them into the pan, are the yolks the same color? Some of my girls always have darker yolks.
The eggs started out speckled and smaller than a large egg. They gradually turned to a much more smooth brown and evened out to a bit larger -- all of this in the first 5. Then the eggs all seemed about the same size, some speckles on and off.
We got an egg on Friday that was REALLY speckled, more than any of the others. So that's kinda what got me wondering.
Based on leg and ear color, I semi-expected the sussex eggs to be lighter in color than the cochins. What would you expect? Her legs are white and her ears are creamy white. So I was expecting a really light brown.
Also, the seller told me he'd expect the sussex to be the biggest of the three girls, but she's still smaller than the cochin. Based on your egg comment... would you expect her to be larger than a cochin?
The sussex should end up at 7 to 8 lbs - they are considered a heavy breed, unless she is a bantam. I would have expected her eggs to be larger than the cochin eggs, and a fairly steady cream to light brown color. She should, in theory, lay 4 to 5 eggs a week.
The cochin should eventually weigh 8 lbs or more - they are considered a "very heavy" breed, again, unless she is a bantam. There are a lot of bantam cochins out there! But, her eggs should in theory be smaller overall than the sussex eggs. There seems to be more variation in their egg colors but overall brown and can be speckled. She should lay maybe 3 eggs a week. They are not known for being as good a layer as the sussex, according to my books. I would suspect the very speckled egg came from the cochin.
I have a sussex and some cochins but my sussex is standard and my cochins are bantams. But my cochin eggs are darker than the sussex eggs. They also seem "rounder" to me but that may be more bantam related.
This is a great British site for poultry and allotments. It lists both the Sussex and Cochins as laying "tinted" eggs which I translate as that sort of pinky or yellowy off white to tan.
http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Chicken_a/egg_shell_color/egg_shell_color.php
The standard Cochin eggs I got off eBay are huge and light brown. They are without a doubt the roundest eggs I have ever seen. I think I am looking at the same books as Moxon and the British one does say Standard Cochin eggs are not very large--but it seems some of the British strains of a given breed differ in various ways from the American ones. They even make a distinction between Cochin and bantam Cochins calling the latter, Pekins, and suggesting they are not closely related--but I don't know if this is true for the US. Maybe we really do have bantam Cochins?
Anyway, I can always tell which pullet laid which egg--there is always some slight but consistant difference in size, shape and color (colour?). Even with the RIR and BO, which are very similar, the BOs are slightly smaller, rounder and lighter. If you just handed me one egg--I might not know, but if you give me one of each, I can always tell. Weird.
That is because of your amazing mind power Catscan, which is further evidenced by your levitating ceramic armadillo. I think you levitate it yourself, with your mind.
I can always tell the difference between a blue egg and a brown one, just by looking at them! Cool eh?
How really very kind of you, Moxon, not to point out the obvious--I spend far, far to much time looking at my chicken's eggs and thinking fowl thoughts.
If you look at the site above (and I know you will)--you can find the bit that says the pigment in RIR eggs comes from hemaglobin (sorta like the madness of King George)--but the pigment in Araucana eggs is oocynate from bile and goes all the way through the egg shell (unlike the other pigments which only coat the outside) and makes them very hard to candle.
But wait! I'll let her tell you herself:
"All eggs are initially white, and shell colour is the result of the pigments called porphyrins being deposited while the eggs are in the process of formation. In the case of the Rhode Island Red, the brown pigment protoporphyrin, derived from haemoglobin in the blood, is what gives the shell its light brown colour.
The Araucana produces a pigment called oocyanin, which is a product of bile formation, and results in blue or bluish-green eggs. Interestingly, the colour goes right through the shell, making the eggs difficult to candle during incubation.
This factor is also an indication of the relative purity of the stock in relation to original Araucanas. The original shell colour of Araucana eggs is blue, but a variety of colours have been produced by crossing Araucanas with other breeds..."
Really go to this site, it is wonderful! http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Chicken_a/index.php
Very interesting. I'm going to have to inspect the eggs more closely tonight. I know this is completely ridiculous, but I'm going to feel bad if I missed out on the celebration of Talula's 1st egg. The cochin's first few eggs were smaller, maybe just a bit smaller than a Large egg versus X-Large or Jumbo.
Sounds to me like based on production levels alone that when the eggs kicked up to 1 a day that was probably was when Talula started laying. I figured the very slight variation in size and speckles was just Lacey getting this whole laying thing down to a science.
Claire - you had me cracking up in the office about the brown vs. blue egg. I'm with you. I can definitely tell that too, but that's about it. I look forward to Anya, the Americauna starting to lay, because she'll be an easy one to tell.
Cat - I'm at work, can't wait to check it out at home after the kiddies are in bed tonight! :)
Catscan - I was very impressed with that site. It had lots of useful information. I noted that a hen's diet can change egg color. I had the thought, briefly, about feeding hens a diet extremely high in anthocyanins. I wondered if this might lend a pale lilac color to white egg layers. Oh, the genetics are too exciting to bear...I must think upon something else now...
Belated congratulations to Talula!
There is (or was) a Scottish strain of, I think Araucana, that lays (laid) lavender eggs....I want them!
Have you noticed that everywhere except the states (and maybe Canada) that Araucanas are allowed to have tails since the original Chilean birds did?
Also found one of the most beguiling pictures of blue eggs on eBay is lifted from a UK site. Which see:
http://www.utilitypoultry.co.uk/araucana.shtml
And to think I almost bid on them!
That would have been a very long journey. The colors on that photo are just odd. I think it's not very true to life.
Well darnit, I was going to come right home and take a picture of the highly speckled egg, because it was also a lot more pointy than the others, but DH used it for dinner tonight. :-( I'm going to have to set up a camera. Apparently we have a stealth layer on our hands. ha!
DH ate my Gruyere cheese last night--it was for a quiche. I need a remote camera for the kitchen.
I think my Leghorn/Jersey Giant cross, Nigella, is about to start laying. She is crouching--what color will she lay? My Leghorn/Buckeye, Treacle is laying very light, almost alabaster gold, eggs.
"Talula" is such a good chicken name. And I am really interested in the color of her eggs. Where did you get her?
Alabaster gold eggs....wow! How delightful!
We got Lacey, Talula, and Dinney from a farmer in McMinnville, OR - about 2 hours from here. Dinney was a twerp and so she was rehomed and long story short we ended up with Anya as her replacement in a round about way.
If cochin eggs are supposed to be rounder and shorter, then I think that ... oh I just don't know. I could speculate until I'm blue in the face, but I really don't know. I've got the 1st 6 eggs that were laid. The first three (definitely Lacey's) look fairly similar. Then the next three look similar to each other, but different from the first 3...
Hi lazy_ladies! I have three white cochins and one buff cochin. I usually get 5-6 eggs aweek from each one, they are barely larger than bantam size, and are a light-dark tan. They are also very round the small end is only slightly smaller than the large end. Don't know if that helps, but thought I'd just try to help. Haystack
Our standard cochins lay a medium egg as well. Right now we are consistently getting 4-6 eggs from a pen of 8 hens. They are rounder than a RIR and very light tan. One lays an egg that is almost white.
Thanks Haystack and MNKris,
Since I initially posted this I've been watching the eggs very closely. They are all the same size and shape. So I think maybe Lacey really is laying all of these and that maybe the couple really freckled and more pointed were just a couple that Talula threw in there.
DH tried to sneak up on them and catch someone in action this morning and found, none other than, Lacey in the box. ha!
YAHOO! I'll have you know my sweet little cochin HAS been laying an egg a day!
Talula - the speckled sussex just laid her first egg -- its still hot -- and it looks nothing like the others!
Lacey (the cochin) says, "who says I'm a lazy layer?"
hehe ;-)
woot wtg.
How does Talula's egg look? Longer? Diff color? Do tell!
I started a new thread for it... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/919452/