Double check: are these too small?

It’s a classic chicken-keeper conundrum: you’ve got your heart set on a fluffball army of all-black Silkies, you’ve carefully matched your Mystic Onyx hens (half Silkies) with a purebred Silkie rooster, and now the first eggs are here. But they’re tiny. Like, “can this even become a chick?” tiny. Seeing that regular-sized egg in the photo for scale just highlights the pint-sized problem. The instinct to wait and see if they “fatten up” is totally relatable—we’ve all been there, hovering over the nesting box, hoping for a more robust offering. But when it comes to hatching, size isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about viability. For perspective, it’s worth noting that first-year layers often produce smaller eggs, and genetic mixes can throw a curveball. You might find our discussions on early chick development helpful, like in “Big size difference in 5 week old chicks. Should I worry?” which touches on how mixed genetics play out as chicks grow.

So, are these eggs too small? The short, slightly frustrating answer is: maybe, but probably not impossibly so. Silkie eggs, even from purebred birds, are notoriously small—often likened to a large bantam egg. What you’re seeing is likely a combination of two factors. First, your Mystic Onyx hens are first-time layers, and like teenagers, they need a few months for their reproductive systems to fully mature and settle into a regular laying rhythm. Second, the genetic contribution from the Silkie sire is for a small-bodied bird, so the egg size blueprint is inherently smaller. The real question isn’t just “can they hatch?” but “should you try?” An egg that’s significantly underweight—lacking the proper air cell and interior space—can lead to higher rates of late-term mortality or weak chicks. However, if the eggs have good shell quality, a defined air cell, and aren’t comically tiny (like a quail egg), they stand a reasonable chance. Many a successful hatch has started with an egg that looked deceptively small.

The waiting game, then, is part science and part sanity preservation. Giving your girls until late summer or early fall to mature isn’t a bad plan. You’ll likely see a modest increase in size as their bodies adjust, and you’ll avoid the frustration of setting eggs that might not develop. In the meantime, focus on what you can control: optimal nutrition with a good layer feed and occasional protein boosts, constant access to fresh water, and reducing stress. A happy, healthy hen is more likely to produce a viable egg, regardless of its initial dimensions. If you’re collecting a clutch to incubate, you can be slightly selective, choosing the largest from each hen, but don’t discard the small ones outright if you have the incubator space to experiment. Sometimes, the little guys surprise you.

Ultimately, this isn’t just about one hen’s egg size; it’s about managing expectations in a long-term breeding project. You’re aiming for an “all-black” flock, which is a multi-generational goal that involves careful selection. The first eggs from your F1 generation (the Mystic Onyx x Silkie crosses) are just data points. The real fun—and the real test—will come when you hatch from these eggs, raise those chicks, and then select which females to keep for your next generation. Will their eggs be larger? Will the black coloration breed true? That’s the addictive, messy, wonderful puzzle of chicken genetics. So, collect, observe, and maybe set a few of the biggest ones. But remember, in the whimsical world of chickens, sometimes the smallest packages come with the biggest personalities.