Anyone else think eggs are getting smaller?

In reply to RevRico :

I bet that's uncomfortable for her.

as an aside, why does every shiny happy person on the planet* all of a sudden think they need to be an egg producer?  

*except you guys.   you guys are cool.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

as an aside, why does every shiny happy person on the planet all of a sudden think they need to be an egg producer?  

Because chickens are trendy this decade.  Another couple of years and it will die down.

Duke said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

as an aside, why does every shiny happy person on the planet all of a sudden think they need to be an egg producer?  

Because chickens are trendy this decade.  Another couple of years and it will die down.

 

Not to be argumentative, but I started seeing articles about the joys of backyard chickens back in the late aughts, if not earlier.  I think we got our first chickens about that time.  So technically, this would be the third consecutive decade of trendy chickens, and there's no sign of it slacking.  There's a big chicken swap meet up around Ashland, VA a couple times a year, and from what I hear, it's immensely popular.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

as an aside, why does every shiny happy person on the planet* all of a sudden think they need to be an egg producer?  

 

Dude, I think the period when we were *not* all egg producers is the exception.

Heh, I said period. Like, chicken eggs are ... oh, never mind.

Keith Tanner said:

Mndsm said:

I've got like 3 dozen eggs in my fridge. We eat a lot of eggs. Do I need to measure them? 

Amateur. My in-laws have too many chickens and it rains eggs around here. She seems to assume we eat about a dozen a day. We currently have 6 dozen. And they're big.

Am interested in eggcellent recipes. 

Only would grm turn into an egg having contest. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

as an aside, why does every shiny happy person on the planet* all of a sudden think they need to be an egg producer?  

 

*except you guys.   you guys are cool.

We've been doing the backyard chicken thing for about a decade now. Got 18 mother cluckers in the run out back, and 5 more in the house we're raising from chicks. 

The reason we continue doing it, is eggs raised from chickens that freely roam and eat bugs and greens are the best, tasting, most nutritious eggs around. When we have surplus, we get $5 a dozen for them, and sell all we can get. We currently have 3 dozen fresh on the kitchen counter, and last fall froze another 3 dozen scrambled raw.  We have eggs for breakfast most mornings, and cook with them too. 

Wiki says this about American chicken eggs:

United States[edit]

The United States Department of Agriculture sizing is based by weight per ton.[4] The most common U.S. size of chicken egg is 'Large' and is the egg size commonly referred to for recipes.

The following egg masses including shell have been calculated on the basis of the USDA sizing per dozen:

Modern Sizes (US)

Size Minimum mass per egg Cooking Yield (Volume)[5]

Jumbo 70.9 g2.5 oz.61 ml (4.75 tbsp)

Very Large or Extra-Large (XL)63.8 g2.25 oz.56 ml (4 tbsp)

Large (L)56.8 g2 oz.46 ml (3.25 tbsp)

Medium (M)49.6 g1.75 oz.43 ml (3 tbsp)

Small (S)42.5 g1.5 oz.
Peewee35.4 g1.25 oz.

Every once in awhile I do miss an omelet made with duck eggs, but that is a whole 'nuther story.

In one of the later Travis McGee books by John D. MacDonald, meaning late Sixties/early Seventies, Travis is directing one of his periodic existential rants at the long-suffering Meyer and says something along the lines of "These are the Grade A, super-jumbo, extra-large eggs from the supermarket, which means they are about the size of robins' eggs."

So the complaint isn't new.

You backyard guys ever get one of the real small ones randomly? Got this one Yesterday. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

Yes!  Every once in a while, I get a mini-egg.  I think the last one I saw was back when the older birds first resumed laying back in late February.

In reply to Steve_Jones :

Yeah, we get a fluke tiny one occasionally. I've also found eggs with no shell, just a soft membrane. Those are kind of gross.

gearheadmb said:

In reply to Steve_Jones :

Yeah, we get a fluke tiny one occasionally. I've also found eggs with no shell, just a soft membrane. Those are kind of gross.

Agree!

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

I think those are called fairy eggs. I could be wrong. 

We have not seen any tiny eggs, but the older birds can produce some pretty gross "non eggs".  The super thin shell thing is one of them.  Most of them are just so thin shelled they just result in a pool and BTW....

... the birds love to eat their own eggs.... that just came out of their vent (combi butt).

1988RedT2 said:    Ungrateful cluckers!  You can be replaced!

Or eaten!

1988RedT2 said:

I haven't bought eggs since the days started getting longer and my birds got to laying again.  Our birds do not appear to be laying smaller eggs.  Very young chickens will lay smallish eggs until the errrr... plumbing... matures.

So the answer probably lies with the age of the laying flock, with a large number of very young birds replacing those who met their demise through disease.

Do you have a rooster? When we got ours the chickens laid through the winter (Illinois). I heard it was a thing.

In reply to BlindPirate :

I have a rooster and mine lay all year long. 

In reply to BlindPirate :

Mine laid all winter with no rooster, or supplemental lighting. Slowed down from 6 a day to 4 a day from 7 birds, but they kept on going. 

I don't have a place for a henhouse, or I would have gotten chickens years ago. 
 

One of my nurses brings me some eggs from her hens occasionally.  They're really good!

Noddaz said:

The United States Department of Agriculture sizing is based by weight per ton.[4] The most common U.S. size of chicken egg is 'Large' and is the egg size commonly referred to for recipes.

The following egg masses including shell have been calculated on the basis of the USDA sizing per dozen:

Modern Sizes (US)

Large (L)56.8 g2 oz.46 ml (3.25 tbsp)

I stand corrected.

I put all the eggs through the kitchen scale and they all came in spec, between 56-61 grams. 

Steve_Jones said:

In reply to BlindPirate :

I have a rooster and mine lay all year long. 

Barred Rock?  Ours makes some very strange noises.  Very much makes you believe they are related to dinosaurs.  (not "bock", more like a gravely "baaaaaaaaaaaaa")

I am assuming the run is not near the house, or neighbors.  We absolutely could not have a rooster.  Heck the egg song thing can be bad enough where we are.

Ours stop when the light gets shorter.  It's not the temp, we are in So Cal (so the light doesn't even change as much as many areas in the US).

I have no rooster.  My neighbor had one for a time.  I did not like living next door to a rooster.

In reply to aircooled :

Plymouth Rock and yes same noises, there's a sign on the coop "Beware the tiny raptors". It's close enough to the house you can hear him in the back bedrooms, but doesn't bother me. If you're in the barn he's loud (you can see the foundation in that photo) Closest neighbor is a mile and they have one too, so no issue there. 
I enjoy having a rooster around, it's fun to watch him charge the alpacas like he's gonna win.