Today, I found the full gamut of egg sizes in my coop this afternoon. My hens are pretty good layers and generally they put out just standard sized eggs. So who laid this strange trio of eggs?

I own two white, egg-laying breeds: 1) the Blue Bresse hens (a French chicken breed famous for their blue colored legs); and 2) the Sumtaler hens (an Austrian breed which is really rare in the United States). Both breed came from Greenfire Farms in Florida, a specialty breeder that I interviewed in UCP Episode 040.

In this small, standard and large set of eggs there are two rarities.  First, the tiny egg is what is called a “fairy egg.”  How fairy eggs are made was discussed in UCP Blog 020. The jumbo egg has two yolks which occurs when the hens ovary releases two oocytes (i.e. the ovum that becomes an egg yolk) within a short time of each other.  Both fairy eggs and double yolkers are ovary malfunctions.  It is rare to find both in the coop on the same day!

I wonder which of the breeds laid these strange eggs: the Bresses, the Sumtalers or both?