First Fairy Egg

Regular Large Brown Egg, Smaller Blue/Green Egg (sort of pullet sized; from a small chicken), and Our First Fairy Egg

All of our chickens are way past laying pullet sized eggs; they're all laying regular sized eggs for their size; so, I was very surprised to find this tiny "fairy" egg in the laying box yesterday. I didn't know the official term for such an egg or that there even was such a thing, but quickly found out through an internet search.

Turns out the internet "AI" says that a fairy egg is "a tiny, often yolkless egg laid by a hen, typically occurring as a minor disturbance in her reproductive cycle". These disturbances can be the result of molting, sickness, irregular stress, poor nutrition, or as a result of just getting toward the end of their laying cycle.

All of our chickens are going to some sort of molting process right now and they've all gone through some recent undue stress as our neighbor's extremely large dogs have gotten out and come over on a couple of separate occasions (each time chasing and terrifying our chickens).

None of our chickens appear to be sick, but about half are older chickens and possibly nearing the end of their laying cycle (although I would think I'd get another year yet for a total of 3 years). Their diet is the same as its always been.

I'll be anxious to see if we continue to see ferry eggs - time will tell... My personal thought is that it is the stress of the dog visits/chases that has put at least one chicken over the edge...