Tag: Pink Egg

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On October 21, 2014

A few weeks ago I had my first egg-bound hen, and this week I have my first double-yolked egg. Check this mammoth out:

Double Yolk Egg Compared to Regular Egg

Obviously, the egg on the left is the double yolk egg and the egg on the right is a single yolk egg. I know some of you are wondering if we cracked it yet, and we have:

Double Yolks

So you might be wondering, can a double yolk egg produce two chickens if it is fertilized? Yep! Check it out in this hatching video. Apparently, it is rare for them to hatch, but as you can see, it is possible. Mine, of course, aren’t fertilized, so that was never a consideration. 😀

The ladies are producing well still, laying 46 eggs this week. I am still amazed that the Easter Eggers are outlaying the Rhode Island Reds. The Rhode Island Reds are supposed to be the heavier layers and winter layers, but they are only averaging 0.71 eggs a day per bird, whereas the Easter Eggers are averaging 0.62 eggs a day. Wait, did you read that? It just goes to show we can’t always go by what our minds tell us. I was sure the Easter Eggers were outlaying the Rhode Island Reds per bird, but the facts this week do not show that. That means the Rhode Island Reds are laying almost five eggs a week each, and the Easter Eggers are averaging just 4.3 eggs a week. I’m not complaining, that is for sure.

Speaking of that, look at the variety of colors we are getting:

Color Variety in Our Eggs

Both of the two on the left are the “pink” eggs, which we think are laid from Easter Eggers, but they could be laid from Rhode Island Reds. You can see a normal Rhode Island Red egg in the two eggs second from the right.

I think that is all the exciting egg news for the week other than the neighbors sure are loving the free fresh eggs. One lady returned the favor this week with a fresh loaf of sourdough bread. The boys said it sure tastes good.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On October 14, 2014

Let’s start off this week with a picture of the elusive “pink” egg:

Fresh Eggs – Capturing the Elusive “Pink” Egg

If you look in the second row from the bottom, second egg from the left, you will see what I call the “pink” egg. Even after all this time, I can’t with certainty say this is an Easter Egger’s egg, but I think it is. You will notice the Rhode Island Reds’ eggs are much darker brown. They are the far bottom left, right side of the second row from the bottom, and the left egg on both the first and second row from the top. The Easter Eggers mostly lay blue eggs, though there are a few that are more olive or green. This pink one is the unidentified egg though. Chickens are supposed to lay the same color egg, generally, daily. Easter Eggers can lay pink eggs, but I am supposing the coloration for one of the Rhode Island Reds may be off too. In other words, I DON’T KNOW! You have no idea how tempted I am to set up a camera. 🙂

I have been surprised lately – the Rhode Island Reds’ egg production has really slowed down. They are only averaging 3.75 eggs a week now, whereas the Easter Eggers are averaging 4.16 eggs a week. That isn’t a big difference, but the Rhode Island Reds are supposed to be the more voluminous egg producers. I keep whispering to them that they have to earn their keep, it’s either eggs or meat, but I don’t think they believe me. 🙂

Speaking of egg production, this is the lightest week in a while. There were only 40 eggs total produced, which has really impacted what we can give away. Thankfully, they upped the production the last few days of the week.

The number of eggs is not the only thing we are watching. I also pay attention to the weight of the eggs, which I haven’t reported lately. In the past the ladies were laying small eggs with a few mediums. Since that time the egg size has grown quite a bit, and we are solidly in the medium egg category now. The Rhode Island Reds’ eggs are averaging 1.85 ounces, and the Easter Eggers’ are averaging 1.775 ounces. The average for the flock is 1.78 ounces. We did have two much larger eggs this week, both weighing near the extra-large egg weight (above 2.25 ounces).

The rain we have had lately has put a real damper on their outside time. Though they play in the run all the time, Charity usually tries to let them run out in the grass daily, and that hasn’t happened as often due to the rain. I suspect it will become even less as the days get colder.

The Chicken Chronicles

Posted by Steve On September 16, 2014

I knew it was bound to happen. This is the first week that the ladies have went down in their egg production. Last week the ladies laid 38 eggs, and I had hoped for about 42-44 this week, but they only laid 36. I am not sure if this was just an off week — they did have two days where the numbers were low, or if the time of year has come where the amounts will begin to decrease. That said, today was a seven egg day.

OH! Speaking of today’s eggs – I have long had a suspicion that one of the Easter Eggers is laying a “pink” egg. I put that in quotes, because it looks quite similar to the brown eggs of the Rhode Island Reds, just lighter in color. I have been waiting for the day where five brown eggs show up because that would mean that lighter one is indeed a pink egg from an Easter Egger. That has yet to happen, but today something just about as good happened. Four brown eggs were laid today and none of them were lighter in color. This almost certainly means that the lighter colored egg is from an Easter Egger.

I kind of dread the winter with the girls. Even now, when we don’t get out there as soon as the sun is up, they have their coop in a mess. We could leave the door to the run open, but I like the added protection it offers. Even so, come winter we may have to leave it closed some to keep the warmth in with the hens. Only time will tell, I suppose.

365 Days of Me