Heritage Chicken Eggs

[Martin Fisher]

There are several egg quality faults that tend to increase with age of the hen.

Including, but not limited to, blood spots, meat spots, watery whites, large mobile air spaces, misshapened eggs, rough shells, thin shells, etc.

Eggs from young hens are not without common faults.....small eggs, misshappened eggs, double yolks and thin shells.

Some breeds and strains are more prone to certain faults than others.

Quality control usually weeds out most of the troubled eggs before they reach consumers.

Having said that, because egg production is highest in very young hens but plummets rapidly, most commercial laying hens are culled when relatively young, the same applies to many small-farm flocks.

~Martin

Edited May 1, 2013 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[andiesenji]

Pullet eggs are generally small and there are some breeds that naturally lay small eggs, just as some breeds lay larger eggs. My friend has some Jersey Giants that have a longer egg-laying life than some breeds but they all diminish with time and do stop eventually - at which point they become pets. Sam does not do this for a living - he "retired" while in his 40s and this began as a hobby.

He also has some black Australorps that are also quite large and are naturally calm as well as being naturally "broody" so he uses them to incubate both their eggs and eggs from hens who aren't inclined to sit on a nest.

He has incubators but finds that the chicks from some breeds do better when raised "naturally" by a hen.

He grows most of his own feed as he has 60 acres and three deep wells for irrigating. (and plenty of help...)

I just phoned Sam and asked a few questions. He currently has 31 different distinct "heritage" chicken breeds and 9 crossbreeds that he has done as an experiment - he can't show them because they are not a recognized variety.

He also has a few "exotic" or "fancy" breeds that are bred for show or ornamental display, not much for egg production and he is raising some threatened breeds which are in danger of becoming extinct via an arrangement with a poultry society dedicated to preserving these breeds from extinction. None of those eggs are sold - all are (hopefully) fertile and are set to one of the "broody" hens.

A couple of weeks ago 9 blue Sumatra hatched and are doing well - this breed is on the critical list and is strictly an ornamental type - egg-laying is sporadic (and they will lay them anywhere, not in nests, so have to be watched) and the hens won't sit on them reliably - so the "foster mum" Australorps take over.

I never learned so much about chickens in such a short amount of time as when I listen to Sam. My brain is now spinning with egg-production statistics that I will not remember and the various breed names are history-for now with the few exceptions that stuck. I asked Sam to join eG and share some of his knowledge but he says he is just too busy right now with getting the game bird production going as he has a class of 4-H kids starting this weekend.