Inconsistent average flock egg size

[User635240]

Hi all, I have 175 chickens, of different ages and breeds, roughly 35 are males and the rest are females. They are producing (knock on wood) 5-6 dozen eggs per day. This is twice what they were producing last month, before installing a few fluorescent shop lights in the coop which extended daylight to 14 hrs/day.
Question: a few weeks ago I was seeing lots of super jumbo eggs, primarily from my ISA Browns and Tetra Browns, and also the Welsummer. The last two weeks though I am seeing lots of small to medium sized eggs, and no jumbo sized eggs. Granted, there are maybe 50 pullets advancing to hen stage, and also some smaller genetic hackle pullets. However that might explain lots of new smaller eggs but not the change of the ISA browns' eggs from super jumbo to large. I am not aware of any major changes to feed, routine, etc. They are getting outside more since the weather is more pleasant now. Any ideas?

 

[Huntmaster]

Young first-time layers will often lay wanky eggs before they get the whole egg laying process down. You can get small yolkless/fart eggs, very large double yolk even triple and shell less eggs.

 

[homesteading101]

That's what I'm going through right now, my old birds lay honker eggs I can't even close the egg carton they are so big. New birds have been stuck on small eggs for months.

 

[User635240]

You're s

Young first-time layers will often lay wanky eggs before they get the whole egg laying process down. You can get small yolkless/fart eggs, very large double yolk even triple and shell less eggs.

That's what I'm going through right now, my old birds lay honker eggs I can't even close the egg carton they are so big. New birds have been stuck on small eggs for months.

Ok. I'm just wondering because just in a matter of weeks, the 9mo ISAs switched from laying jumbo size to regular size. Also my welsummer and a few others. Just not seeing any jumbo eggs now for some reason.

 

[User635240]

That's what I'm going through right now, my old birds lay honker eggs I can't even close the egg carton they are so big. New birds have been stuck on small eggs for months.

Is that normal for older birds to lay jumbo eggs?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Is that normal for older birds to lay jumbo eggs?

I do find that my older birds seem to lay the largest eggs overall.

 

[homesteading101]

Indeed I agree with rosemary, my old birds that are around 8-10 years laid ridiculously huge eggs

 

[User635240]

Indeed I agree with rosemary, my old birds that are around 8-10 years laid ridiculously huge eggs

@homesteading101 @rosemarythyme do those larger eggs yield larger chicks/adult chickens?

 

[rosemarythyme]

@homesteading101 @rosemarythyme do those larger eggs yield larger chicks/adult chickens?

I have no roo so no attempt at hatching. I will say the quality of the egg does degrade as well, the yolks are more fragile and the whites runnier, and I notice a higher rate of inclusions, so it's possible they wouldn't have a good chance at hatching even if they were fertilized.