Egg Size from standard barred rocks

[rguy23]

I am new at this and learning... ...searched through some posts, but not really finding a direct answer.

I have 6 barred rocks that typically lay 4-6 eggs per day, which I think is wonderful - more than I guessed before getting starting. Anyway, my only "complaint" is from this nagging question of what size I ought to expect from them? They are all larger than "small" but certainly smaller than anything I have gotten at the store. I thought I read somewhere that the first year they would lay a little smaller than after, say, their first molt?

I am feeding layer feed from local feed stores, but after reading through some of the feed posts - starting to question that for whole grain diet. This is more of a hobby for me and my girls though, so not really looking to make a career of rationing. I do feed them a few table scraps - vegies, bread, cold cuts, cooked meats a little. I also let them roam when I am around to watch things - a couple of hours a day usually. Grass is starting to grow here, but no bugs really yet. Even so, they are eating less of the pellet food than they were over the winter - but I hoped/expected that with the onset of Spring.

I guess I am curious and second guessing a little. Any thoughts and opinions - or criticisms (I think) - are welcome!

Thanks

 

[Kim_NC]

How old are they? The eggs do get larger as the girls get older. We weigh our eggs to sort them because we sell them, so I'm certain of their sizes. Most of our Barred Rock eggs are Large (minimum 2 oz) for the mature pullets, the 2nd year hens lay an XLg egg (minimun 2 1/4 oz).

 

[JoeandKatherine]

rguy23,

About 4 weeks ago I had a chicken vet from NC State over to talk to our meet-up group about backyard hens. There were a lot of feed questions. What she said was the 16% pellet, crumble or whatever is fine but she said just grains are too much carbs and you end up with fat birds. I also read that grains should never be more than 10% of their diet. She also recommended not feeding the hens animal proteins. I missed the reason but I do not unless they eat one of their own eggs. That happens on occasion. My hens get 24% starter feed supplemented with oyster shells and a couple of hand fulls of scratch grains each day. they get all the mushy fruits and share veggies with the bunnies. The reason I am supplementing my feed with oyster is i am also raising ducks and turkeys for food and they need higher protein percentages and with that you loose calcium in the feed. They love grapes and tomatoes and cucumbers. pears and apples too. They free range nearly all day long rain or shine. and when i dig in the front yard they come out and eat the worms. I also have sod in the coop. My hens are healthy and appear happy and come running whenever I go out back they hear the slider door. I have great eggs too. One more thing...if chick weed grows wild where you are put some in the yard it has lots of vitamins and minerals that are great for the birds.

Joe

 

[nanawendy]

We have 3 one yr old BR's in our flock. They lay med to lg. But mostly med compared to the RSL. Wonderful ladies though>

 

[Cindy in PA]

Quote:
That's funny about NOT feeding grains...................what the heck does she think Chicken feed is made from?

 

[rguy23]

Thanks all... ...I guess they are still considered pullets. I got them as chicks last July. I expect that either the winter was hard on their growth, or they will perhaps keep filling out. It sounds like I may need to get a scale for the eggs and for the birds in order to know when to be concerned. They didn't start to lay until the end of Decmeber and I really wasn't in a hurry to push them.

Ryan

 

[JoeandKatherine]

Quote:
That's funny about NOT feeding grains...................what the heck does she think Chicken feed is made from?

I think she was alluding to feeding them nothing but grains. the crumbles and pellets are loaded with plant proteins where scratch grains have1/2 the proteins needed by the chickens and that is just for layers. She was saying that the chickens need less of the carbs from grains and more of the proteins from grains. example: Layer feed has 16% proteins and scratch grains have 8.5% proteins. Even the supplier for my feed recommends not using more than 10% of their feed being comprised of scratch grains.

Layer analysis - Crude Protein (min.) 16.00%, Lysine (min.) .70%, Methionine (min.) .35%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.50%, Crude Fiber (max.) 7.00%, Calcium (Ca) (min.) 3.80%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 4.80%, Phosphorus (P) (min.) .50%, Salt (NaCl) (min.) .25%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) .75%, Ruminant meat and bone meal free.

Scratch grain analysis - Crude Protein (min.) 8.50%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.00%, Crude Fiber (max.) 4.00%, Ruminant meat and bone meal free.

 

[zoomia]

I really think it depends a lot on the chicken. My one and only BR consistently produces big, almost perfectly round eggs that are over 2.5 oz. OTOH, my RIR--supposed to be large eggs--is only a medium and my speckled sussex has never gotten much bigger than a small to medium.