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Written by Tom McCaig
Soon we will have eggs in the nest. You should be aware to look at the size of your birds' eggs. Often in Frillbacks, especially in Whites and Red and Blue Grizzles, they will lay small sized eggs. This may be caused by a close gene pool. A fancier may raise a super show winner and breed a lot of young from this bird, but if this hot bird came from a small egg and it produces small sized eggs, it will pass along this trait.
The Saddle Frillbacks in all colors produce large size eggs compared to the other colors and markings of Frillbacks. The Saddles have been in development about 30 years and the main breeding has come in the last fifteen years. The Saddles were developed from crossing Frillbacks to Shield Pigeons and Lahores. This could explain why Saddles produce large size eggs.
So why worry or even think about the size of an egg? Are you crazy or don't have much else to think about in life? If the eggs are small in size and they hatch, one or both squabs could be so small in size that the parents will smash and kill one in the nest. The baby may be so small that the parents can't feed it properly and it will die. The large size eggs have a better chance of hatching and are about two days larger in size than a smaller size egg baby. Thus, squabs from the larger eggs hatch better and develop faster. So you are not only selecting for the breed standard but also large size eggs. Every time you enter your loft you should observe the size of the eggs laid by your birds.