Who’s egg is this?

With all the grown up girls at various stages of their moult Sparkle has been our only girl still laying for the last three weeks. She is starting to lose a few feathers now and her egg laying is slowing. She was laying five eggs a week but then dropped to laying every other day and more recently she has missed a couple of days in a row.

Sparkle has always laid the smallest eggs. They are noticeably smaller than any of the other girls. Bantam eggs have the same size yolk as big girls eggs but less white. In Sparkles case her eggs have the least white I have ever seen, about a teaspoon.

We eat them two at a time and they are lovely eggs but I digress. Yesterday when we got back from our deliveries I went and checked the coops as always. There in the right hand coop was a tiny egg, smaller than Sparkles usually are.

Could it be that Peaches or Barley had laid it. The left hand coop is the one Sparkle usually favours but I haven’t seen Peaches or Barley show any interest in the nest boxes. It’s usual for chickens to do a bit of practising before they start laying. As we were not here we just can’t really be sure. Sparkle had missed a couple of days so I wonder if she just laid a smaller egg as she is starting her moult.

Who’s egg is this?

On the left is a normal sized (medium), shop bought, egg for comparison. I was forced to buy some eggs for the first time in two years as Sparkle has only been laying about four a week. The middle egg is Sparkle’s normal sized egg. On the right is the mystery egg.

I won’t be able to solve the mystery until I can tell who lays the next egg. I will be keeping an eye on any activity in the nest box and will update when I have a clearer idea.