The problem of chicken eggs pounding is quite common: in such cases, the weight of each of them is halved. Instead of the usual weight, which is about 70 g, eggs are obtained in 30-35 g. This phenomenon can be caused by a number of factors: both age characteristics and characteristics of the breed, and insufficient care and the presence of diseases.
General Description of the Problem
The small weight of eggs is a phenomenon that can be either episodic or regular. In the first case, there is no cause for concern. But if small eggs began to appear day after day for a long period, this indicates the presence of certain problems or the features of the life cycle of laying hens.
Small eggs are a common egg laying pathology. Small, or dwarf, chicken eggs are called those whose weight does not exceed 35 g. Most often, such a deviation is observed in spring and summer.
In small eggs, the yolk may be underdeveloped or even absent. If there is no center, then in its place an extraneous inclusion is found - a blood clot, pieces of hardened protein, fibrin.
Most chopped chicken eggs are round. Their protein is high in density.
By the type of eggs they judge the health status of chickens. If laying hens do not get sick and fully develop, then their eggs have the correct shape, standard sizes and weight.
With a stable decrease in egg size, it is necessary to find out the causes that caused this phenomenon. A veterinarian can help with this.
The main reasons for egg laying in laying hens
The main reasons that can cause egg pounding in chickens include the following:
Bird age
The size of the eggs is proportional to the age of the laying hen: the younger she is, the smaller her eggs. Young individuals rush often, but the eggs are small. As the layers grow older, the weight and size of the eggs increase.
Throughout life, a chicken is capable of laying from 2,000 to 4,000 eggs - it all depends on its breed and state of health. In the first months after the bird reaches puberty, the eggs may be small. This phenomenon is natural: during this period, a full yolk is placed inside, and the protein layer has a small size.
The size of the egg increases with time, when the oviduct becomes longer and expands. The final product may be small until the bird is 9 months old.
End of the biological cycle of productivity
In laying hens, the life cycle consists of periods of oviposition, each of which ends with molting. When the chicken gives several small eggs, this indicates the termination of oviposition and the early onset of molting. After this period is over, the hen will again begin to give eggs of a standard size.
Breed features
Certain representatives of the egg-bearing breeds of chickens have natural small sizes and body weight, therefore, throughout their life they give only small eggs.
So, in the white sultanka, the average egg weight is 45 g, in the Hamburg chicken - from 45 to 54 g; accordingly, and their size will be small. In dwarf varieties of chickens, the size of the egg is even smaller: in bentamki - within 37-40 g, in milfler - 28-30 g.
Large eggs are representatives of such breeds:
- Pushkin. These chickens carry eggs, each weighing about 60 g. A distinctive feature of the laying hens of this breed is its easy adaptation to different conditions.
- Highsex Brown. These birds have a high level of egg production - about 315 products per year. Large eggs: the weight of one piece reaches 70 g.
- Tetra. Representatives of this breed are particularly demanding of the conditions of detention: they need a strictly defined temperature regime and a balanced diet. But their egg production is impressive: Tetra chickens produce more than three hundred eggs per year, the weight of one egg is about 65 g.
- Russians are white. Representatives of this breed carry eggs weighing 60 g each.
- Highlines. Layers of this breed are productive. The average weight of one egg is about 65 g or more.
- Oryol. Laying eggs give eggs weighing 60 g.
- Rhodonites. The average size of one egg is 60 g.
Foreign bodies in the oviduct of a laying hen
As a foreign object, a feather, stone, helminth, and litter elements can act. When a foreign body passes through the oviduct, it is perceived by the chicken body in the same way as the formed yolk.
Subsequently, a foreign object is enveloped in a protein layer, a shell is formed on top. The output is a non-standard egg (pseudo-egg) with small sizes.
Nutrition and bird problems
Malnutrition and the associated lack of vitamins E and D in the body can directly affect egg sizes. The presence of drafts, a lack of light or heat, increased dryness and stale air in the room in which the birds are kept can provoke their reduction.
Read more about feeding laying hens here.
Hormonal disorders or metabolic problems
With deviations of this nature, eggs without yolk are formed, which affects its mass and size. A change in the hormonal background or metabolism may be due to a sharp change in the composition of the feed, starvation, the presence of external stimuli in the form of noise, drafts.
Signs of this condition of the chickens are baldness, feather brittleness, weight problems (both obesity and sudden weight loss), gait disturbance, lethargy or excessive excitability of the bird.
Chickens disease
The most common bird disease that causes egg size reduction is salpingitis (or inflammation of the oviduct) in laying hens. Most often, the pathological process develops in young hens. With this disease, the eggs first decrease in size, then the process of laying them stops altogether.
In the acute form of salpingitis in laying hens, the number of eggs is reduced, their size is reduced. In the chronic form of the disease, there is no depletion of the bird, deterioration of its condition. The only thing that changes is the size of the eggs and the deterioration of oviposition.
Stress
Often, chickens, getting to a new breeder, stop laying eggs or lay them, but give small products. In this case, do not panic: the bird will need from several days to a week in order to adapt to new living conditions. During this period, it is important to provide the bird with good nutrition and favorable living conditions.
Ways to deal with the problem
If laying hens began to give small eggs, it is necessary to find out the reason for this phenomenon and, in accordance with this, choose a way to improve the situation.
The first thing to do is contact your veterinarian to rule out the possibility of inflammatory and other diseases in laying hens. If the inflammatory process of the oviduct is revealed in birds, it is necessary to wash it daily with clean water and give the layers a solution of potassium iodide for 20 days. Vitamin complexes are also given to sick laying hens, which must necessarily include vitamins A, E and D.
If young eggs are laying small eggs, then you need to wait until she turns 6 months old. Usually by this age, hens begin to lay eggs of standard sizes and weights.
To solve the problem of small eggs, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- Quickly isolate sick birds from the herd.
- In case of inflammation of the oviduct in layers, rinse it with saline, introducing it through an enema. In the inflammatory process, it is necessary to give the birds Sulfadimezin and Trichopolum: the tablets are crushed, diluted with water and poured into the beaks of the layers. If the disease was triggered by pathogenic bacteria, then calcium gluconate, Baytril, Gamavit are additionally prescribed.
- To ensure a full daylight hours in the chicken coop, which is necessary for hens to lay eggs (15-16 hours a day).
- Feed laying hens with grass, greens.
- Introduce vitamin C into the diet, which helps birds with stressful conditions.
- Ensure good ventilation of the premises in which the birds live.
Preventive actions
To prevent anomalies in the process of egg formation, you must follow these recommendations:
- Properly organize the diet. Food for layers should contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals, but at the same time should not be too high in calories. To get large eggs, you need to include in the diet compounds that contain fat, crude protein, lysine, cystine.
- Closely monitor the condition of the birds in order to identify the onset of diseases that cause oviposition disorders in time.
- Provide full lighting, especially in the winter season, when the laying hens are significantly reduced.
- Maintain optimal temperature conditions. In winter, the temperature in the chicken coop should not fall below +12 degrees, in summer it should not exceed +22 degrees.
- To destroy insects and ticks, eggs and larvae of helminths, harmful rodents in the room where birds are kept.
- Provide chickens with sufficient space for walking and establish comfortable roosts designed for sleeping at night.
- Clean and disinfect utility rooms adjacent to the house, sewage sumps, roads.
- Change bedding regularly.
- Timely conduct preventive treatment of birds to prevent helminthic infestations.
- Maintain the necessary humidity in the chicken coop. This indicator should be in the range of 60-70%.
- Observe sanitary standards, ensure cleanliness and dryness in the room, which contains laying hens.
- Regularly carry out a complete disinfection of the room - at least 1 time in 2 months.
Periodically, the improvement of the premises, which contain laying hens, is required. The main stages of such events include the following:
- Elimination of poultry from poultry houses and mechanical cleaning of premises. Feeding troughs and bunkers clear of the remains of feed, dust precipitate. Manure and bedding is removed for biothermal treatment. Lamps, control panels and other equipment are treated with phenol solution (5%).
- Cleaning adjacent areas, mowing grass.
- Washing house equipment. All contaminated surfaces and equipment installed in the chicken coop are treated with a solution of soda ash, kept for an hour, then washed with ordinary water using high-pressure pumps.
- Wet disinfection of premises and equipment.
The outer walls of the house are whitened once a year in warm weather.
Marking Chicken Egg Sizes
In stores, egg trays are marked that indicate their weight:
- the number 3 after the main indication (“C” - table or “D” - dietary egg) means that the eggs belong to the third category, since their weight is small - from 33 to 44.5 g;
- 2 - the second category, egg weight - 45-54.5 g;
- 1 - the first category, egg weight - from 55 to 64.5 g;
- the designation “B” refers eggs to the highest category - this means that the weight of one is more than 75 g;
- the designation “O” refers products to the selected group: the weight of one egg in this case ranges from 65 to 74.5 g.
Chickens can lay small eggs for various reasons: this may be due to the characteristics of the breed and age, as well as due to improper conditions and diseases. If the phenomenon is episodic in nature, then you can wait a while and trace the condition of the chicken - perhaps this is due to its young age. When laying small eggs regularly, contact your veterinarian.