Scots Grey eggs
23 01 2008
Following on from the discussion about Scots Greys and their eggs, I collected six eggs from six different hens to show the differences.
All six hens have the same sire, and all were hatched from off-white, slightly conical eggs similar to numbers one and three in the photo.
Despite that, there’s a lot of variation in size, shape and colour between the six. On the face of it, you’d only hatch chicks from one and three.
But what if the two tan eggs on the right were from hens that lay five eggs a week while the other hens lay only two or three?
What if the hen that laid number two is a particularly outstanding example of the breed?
What if number one is from a scraggy runt of a hen?
With a more prolific breed, you’d have more hens, more eggs and more options.
With only a couple of hundred Scots Grey hens in the UK, however, the decisions are rather more challenging — which is part of their attraction.
As our aim is to build and maintain a dual-purpose flock, not a show flock, I’d lean towards good-sized eggs from good layers, with the looks of the hen coming next and the egg colour coming last (within reason).
Weak hens, sickly hens, hens with yellow legs and beaks, and layers of small eggs wouldn’t get a look in.
As for those six eggs, they’re all being eaten!
Thanks for posting this, very useful indeed. I have a similar range of colour/size plus one much darker which as you said previously is more akin to a Marran although the hen was hatched from the same batch as some of the other Scots Greys laying more regular eggs. You have inspired me to persevere with my endevours and see how things develop over the next couple of breeding seasons. Thanks again.
That’s a really interesting post. I didn’t realise that there were so few Scots Greys left.
With so few numbers, in my opinion, it is good that people breed for slightly different goals while retaining the basics of the breed. Goes back to the cloned animals thing really
Have a look at:
Good news for the Scots Grey
Scots Greys
Just took delivery of 6 Scots Grey eggs to stick in my incubator this morning. Fingers crossed we get to to add 5-6 of them to our lonely Scots Grey. She seems out of place amongst all these small fluffy light coloured chicks