Jumbo sized eggs overnight??? Is this normal???

[jeepgrrl]

Hi everyone! I've posted a pic below this post of the eggs that were laid yesterday, two of which are HUGE! I've never seen any this big before, even at the grocery. The jumbo white egg came from Gertie, my Leghorn and the other large brown egg I'm pretty sure came from Lucy, my New Hampshire Red, since I caught her sitting in the nesting box. I put Gertie's white egg from two days ago in the image for size comparison. Is this normal for them to lay such big eggs? Gertie's have been uniform in size since she started to lay last June, and I am not sure about Lucy because yesterday was the first time that I caught her in the nesting box. My girls free range for a good part of the day and recently have been enjoying the addition of some worms to their diet that popped up after some rain that we finally had after a few weeks without. Two days ago I fed them some grapes, blueberries and some Cheerios as treats. I gave them some scratch and mealworms in their run in the evening, and they also have access to cracked corn and layer crumbles in their coop 24/7. In other words, I really didn't feed them anything that they don't usually get on a regular basis, and other than some grass, clover, insects and worms from free ranging I don't know what else they were eating. Is this something to worry about? Am I overfeeding my girls? They seem happy for the most part, although having lost one of their sisters to a hawk a couple of weeks ago has still left them a little "off". I am concerned since these jumbo eggs have deviated from the norm.

Thank you for any insight that anyone can offer!

 

[morganfamily6]

When did they first start to lay? As i've had some of my chickens lay massive eggs when ive only just got them

 

[RodNTN]

That's the glory of keeping backyard chickens! Huge eggs! I'm sure everything is completely normal

 

[jeepgrrl]

When did they first start to lay? As i've had some of my chickens lay massive eggs when ive only just got them

Gertie, the leghorn, has been laying since mid-June. I'm not sure about Lucy since I just caught her in the nesting box yesterday, but she has been squatting for at least 2.5 months so its probably been a couple of months since she has started to lay.

 

[jeepgrrl]

That's the glory of keeping backyard chickens! Huge eggs! I'm sure everything is completely normal

That is really good to know! I am new at raising hens (since mid-April, 2017) so anytime something unusual occurs, I worry. Well I guess we will be having jumbo egg omelets for breakfast tomorrow morning! Thanks for your input!

 

[dunnmom]

Yep. Pretty normal, and usually nothing to worry about unless it causes a prolapse. I have one hen who prolapsed with her first jumbo, but she healed, and now she lays XL to jumbo sized eggs pretty regularly. Easy to tell which ones are hers, at any rate.

 

[morganfamily6]

Gertie, the leghorn, has been laying since mid-June. I'm not sure about Lucy since I just caught her in the nesting box yesterday, but she has been squatting for at least 2.5 months so its probably been a couple of months since she has started to lay.

Have you got a cockerel?

 

[MasAhora]

I also get variations, sometimes they lay a double yolker or a super large or slightly different shape. Some hens are consistent in size and shape and others vary a bit. They all seem happy and I enjoy the surprises!

 

[jeepgrrl]

Have you got a cockerel?

No, no cockerel in my flock. It turned out that the jumbo eggs were double yolks. I noticed that after a rain when there are more earthworms readily available is when I get the jumbo eggs. I can't say this is true from a scientific standpoint but the timing is awfully coincidental. I'm just glad that these jumbo eggs are normal. I wonder how loud the girls were when those eggs were laid? i'm just glad that the nearest neighbor is not too close to the coop!