How to Easily Tell What Size Egg Your Chickens Are Laying        

Well, friends, I just ran into a problem that, honestly, I never expected to have. Don’t get me wrong—it’s a good problem to have, but it made me think that it might be something you’ll have to deal with too.

Here it is in a nutshell: our chickens are laying a ton of eggs (yay!). But, the eggs don’t come presorted into specific size groupings (obviously). Why is that a problem? Because I wasn’t sure how our eggs translated into recipes calling for a certain size egg.

In fact, I didn’t even know what the specific criteria were for each size egg. I mean, are my chickens laying large eggs? Medium? Extra-large? The girls don’t provide any helpful notations when they lay an egg, so I really wasn’t sure.

If you’ve run into the same problem, then I’m here to help. After looking into it, I’ve realized that all this egg conversion stuff is actually pretty simple. And, knowing this information will help you even if you don’t have your own chickens. Maybe you get home-grown eggs from a friend or co-worker, or you go to the farmer’s market for your eggs. Either way, knowing the definition of the different sizes of eggs (and having a handy egg size conversion chart on hand) comes in handy. Plus, it’s a fun bit of trivia to know…and who doesn’t love random facts?

Defining Egg Size

First, let’s define exactly what’s meant by the different egg sizes:

• Peewee: Any egg that’s 1-1.49 ounces. This size is pretty rare; they come from very young chickens (and actually, my girls never laid a peewee egg, even when they were just starting out).
• Small: Eggs that are 1.5-1.74 ounces. These eggs come from young pullets in the first few months of egg laying, and often have a heartier, stronger flavor than larger eggs. My girls (especially the Wyandottes) laid a few small eggs, but not many.
• Medium: Eggs weighing 1.75-1.99 ounces. This was the most common size the girls laid in their first month or so of laying.
• Large: Eggs that are 2-2.24 ounces. Large eggs seem to be the most common size called for in recipes. My girls started giving us mostly large eggs about 4 weeks after they started laying.
• Extra-large: Eggs weighing 2.25-2.49 ounces. I’ve yet to get an extra-large egg, but maybe I will someday soon!
• Jumbo: Eggs that are 2.5 ounces and larger.

I weigh my eggs using a digital kitchen scale.  If you want to get fancy, you can also use a digital scale specifically for eggs (it also measures humidity, so if you’re raising chicks, it’s a good idea to have this). You can also use this adorable analog egg scale. I mean, seriously. It’s so cute!

But anyway, I digress. Now that you know what the different sizes mean, what do you do if you don’t have the size listed in your recipe? Take a look at the egg size conversion chart below to figure out how to swap egg sizes. To make it easier, I’ll assume your recipe calls for large eggs (since that’s the most common size) and you don’t have any on-hand.

 

EGG SIZE CONVERSION CHART

• Recipe calls for 1 large egg: You can substitute 1 egg of any size
• 2 large eggs: You can substitute 3 small eggs, or 2 medium, extra-large, or jumbo eggs.
• 3 large eggs: You can substitute 4 small eggs, 3 medium or extra-large eggs, or 2 jumbo eggs.
• 4 large eggs: You can substitute 5 small or medium eggs, 4 extra-large eggs, or 3 jumbo eggs.
• 5 large eggs: You can substitute 7 small eggs, 6 medium eggs, or 4 extra-large or jumbo eggs.
• 6 large eggs: You can substitute 8 small eggs, 7 medium eggs, or 5 extra-large or jumbo eggs.

If your recipe calls for a certain number of cups of egg, here are the conversions for that:

1 cup equals 6 small eggs, 5 medium eggs, 5 large eggs, 4 extra-large eggs, or 4 jumbo eggs.

If you’re wondering how many tablespoons each egg (yolk and white together) is equivalent to, I’ve got you covered there as well:

• Medium eggs: 3 tablespoons
• Large eggs: 3.25 tablespoons
• Extra-large eggs: 4 tablespoons