- Jan 21, 2015
- 102
- 9
- 63
Hi guys...
Today, 3 of my hens got locked inside the coop for about 4 hours. Two are my Sex Links, and one was my GLW. The sex links always lay large brown eggs, and my GLW, who just started laying, lays small lighter eggs.
I had already gotten one of the sex link's eggs earlier in the morning. When I realized they were stuck in there (with food and water) I let them out.
In the nest box, I discovered a white banded egg (same size that the sex link lays) (sorry, no pics), the GLW's egg, plus a completely crushed eggshell/membrane mess. It was like someone took an egg, smashed it, and let it lay there. The straw in the nest box was all wet (I'm assuming from the egg), and the other two eggs were also there, perfectly untouched. From what I understand, white banded eggs are "the result of two eggs entering and making contact with each other in the shell gland pouch. When this happens, normal calcification (egg shell formation) is interrupted and the first egg that entered the pouch will get an extra layer of calcium, seen as the white band marking."
I'm fairly certain our sex link (that hadn't laid the first egg) didn't lay an egg yesterday. I can't tell if the egg was broken when it came out, or got pecked and smashed when it did. But is it possible for a chicken to have two eggs inside, then lay them both at once? Was the broken one defective? It just seemed like they would've eaten the whole thing or eaten others if they already ate one, you know? I'm new to the chicken thing, so not sure what's normal.
Thanks!
Today, 3 of my hens got locked inside the coop for about 4 hours. Two are my Sex Links, and one was my GLW. The sex links always lay large brown eggs, and my GLW, who just started laying, lays small lighter eggs.
I had already gotten one of the sex link's eggs earlier in the morning. When I realized they were stuck in there (with food and water) I let them out.
In the nest box, I discovered a white banded egg (same size that the sex link lays) (sorry, no pics), the GLW's egg, plus a completely crushed eggshell/membrane mess. It was like someone took an egg, smashed it, and let it lay there. The straw in the nest box was all wet (I'm assuming from the egg), and the other two eggs were also there, perfectly untouched. From what I understand, white banded eggs are "the result of two eggs entering and making contact with each other in the shell gland pouch. When this happens, normal calcification (egg shell formation) is interrupted and the first egg that entered the pouch will get an extra layer of calcium, seen as the white band marking."
I'm fairly certain our sex link (that hadn't laid the first egg) didn't lay an egg yesterday. I can't tell if the egg was broken when it came out, or got pecked and smashed when it did. But is it possible for a chicken to have two eggs inside, then lay them both at once? Was the broken one defective? It just seemed like they would've eaten the whole thing or eaten others if they already ate one, you know? I'm new to the chicken thing, so not sure what's normal.
Thanks!
