300712 Fri Aug 19 01:17:17 -0700 2005 8 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1672911 long time passing. Truly, why can i no longer find small eggs? The perfect snack. The egg that can fit into the hole of regular sized bread and fried up Moonstruck-style. And what about people with smaller appetitites? I haven't seen medium eggs for a bit either. Fri Aug 19 01:17:17 -0700 2005 0 bryan 1 1672912 Egg size is related to the age of the hen. And there are certain cycles when they are hatched. (Easter being a key date). I don't know all the details, because I wasn't interested for myself, but I did once ask at a farmer's market and got the low-down on when the key times are. Yeh, I realize you can't have mediums unless you get smalls first, but ??? Maybe large, XL and Jumbo are mature sizes and they keep them laying longer. Anyway, there is definitely a hatching cycle that is uneven and pee-wee, small, medium come from non-mature hens. Fri Aug 19 01:34:28 -0700 2005 1672911 0 SteveT 2 1672914 Well, Bantum hens lay small-med eggs their whole life. Also different breeds lay different sizes. All of my hens lay large brown eggs, because I never need smaller. Except my easter egg chicken which lays the most beautiful green-blue eggs. -Becca Fri Aug 19 08:44:03 -0700 2005 1672912 0 Becca Porter 3 1672936 OK, slight mea culpa. Plenty of breeds lay different sizes, but in the commercial world (which includes most farmer's mkts I've visited) bigger size is bigger price. This and economics of scale cause farmers to use chickens that, when mature, lay large - jumbo size. Home growers raise many breeds since their goal isn't money. I wish someone local raised more Araucanas since I love the bright yellow yokes, as well as the blue-green shell. Fri Aug 19 15:02:27 -0700 2005 1672914 0 SteveT 4 1672954 A local farmer sold me some eggs that had blue shells, but the whites were blue also, is that normal? It weirded me out at the time. And they were extremely tiny, as were all the other colors (this was early spring). Fri Aug 19 18:38:41 -0700 2005 1672936 0 coll 4 1672973 Most breeds that are allowed to free feed outside have really orange yolks. As long as they get insects and grass and all that good stuff. Not just Aracaunas. They also have really high yolks that don't spread like storebought. Nothing like it. -Becca Fri Aug 19 22:06:01 -0700 2005 1672936 0 Becca Porter 2 1672950 The very large eggs with double yolks mostly come from heavy-breed pullets in their early days of laying eggs. Their internal gauges are not working quite right yet. However, most breeds tend to start out laying somewhat smaller eggs than they will in a few weeks. Hence the old term "pullet eggs" for small eggs. The Leghorn-based hybrids used for most commercial production of white eggs do tend to produce large or greater eggs for much of their productive lives. The smaller eggs tend to go to breakers--firms that produce bulk eggs out of the shell for food processors and restaurants. If supermarkets wanted to sell medium and small eggs, they could. Since the labor and cooler space for a dozen eggs is pretty much independent of egg size while the price certainly depends on size, stores don't want to sell the less profitable small and medium eggs. How many people would buy medium or small eggs if the price was only five or ten cents lower per dozen than large eggs? There are other reasons why eggs go to breakers, too. But if the eggs are going into buckets prescrambled and pasteurized to be sold by weight, who cares what size the eggs were or whether there were cosmetic flaws in the shells? Fri Aug 19 17:04:00 -0700 2005 1672912 0 Eldon Kreider 1 1672919 You'll find em at your local diner. Fri Aug 19 10:19:53 -0700 2005 1672911 0 saucyknave 1 1672949 They must be going to the food industry. I can get medium eggs at my local Kroger but not small. I have wanted small to make some scotch eggs with. When you get the sausage wrapped around a medium or large hard cooked egg to deep fry it is a monster. Fri Aug 19 16:56:22 -0700 2005 1672911 0 Candy