"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
My 4 hens have now been laying regularly for about 3 months, as far as I
can tell they are fully grown and not getting any larger. They all lay
almost every day but the eggs are smallish, close to 50g each. Two of the
girls are (mostly) Australorps and a fair size the other two are somewhat
smaller but all the eggs are the same size. Will their eggs get any
bigger from now on?

They usually get bigger in the second year and stay that way till the girls
die or are dispatched. Occasionally you'll get a seriously big egg as the
chooks age, but that strains the system so you don't want those.

Secondly, how do I stop one of them (only one particular hen) from laying
outside the nest provided? The others all happily use it and the odd one
used to use it but she has taken to going elsewhere the last few weeks.
She has decided that an old lounge we have on the verandah is the place
which is inconvenient for several reasons but at least it isn't out on the
paddock somewhere.

You can't really stop them laying elsewhere but try leaving them in the pen
till later in the day. If you can figure out when the miscreant is laying
her eggs on the sofa then you leave all of them in till that one has laid
and then let them out afterwards.