2 eggs a day from bantam?

[alpinewelsummer]

Hey all!

I'm not too concerned, more curious--will 2 eggs almost daily be too much wear and tear on our tiny bantam? She's the littlest of the flock and she's been consistently popping out 2 eggs in a day, a couple times a week.

We know it's her because: she's the only of our hens that lays small white eggs. The others are either standard sized or colored eggs.

-and we know she's not laying them at night, because we clear the nests each morning to make sure no eggs are buried, so they don't start rotting and getting smelly.

She's a very prolific layer, and was our only hen that kept laying throughout winter and that big cold snap we had. We keep oyster shell readily available just in case, and we feed them a nice layer mix, but I feel like her tiny body is going to give out eventually if she keeps this up, lol!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Do you have 24/7 light on them?

 

[alpinewelsummer]

Do you have 24/7 light on them?

Not usually! We had an infrared bulb for them when the temps dropped below freezing during that cold snap. Do you think that had lasting effects?

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Might of, but I'm not sure. All I know is that the 24/7 lights can sometimes cause two eggs in a 24 hour time.

 

[alpinewelsummer]

Might of, but I'm not sure. All I know is that the 24/7 lights can sometimes cause two eggs in a 24 hour time.

Hmmm. Maybe there's a nearby porch light or something that she's sensitive to. I'll investigate when it gets dark. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you think that had lasting effects?

No, no lasting effect from that bulb.

What is happening is that she is releasing two yolks on those days instead of the customary one yolk. If she releases two at the same time you usually get a double yolked egg. If they are released at different times you can get two eggs in a day. It is a mistake, her body should not be doing that. That kind of thing happens, any hen can occasionally do it. If it is a rare occasion, I figure we are all entitled to an occasional oops. Some hens do it more often than others, either double yolked eggs or two a day. A pullet just starting to lay is more likely to do that than later in her laying cycle.

Often when a hen lays two eggs in a day the second egg has a thin shell. The hen only makes a certain amount of shell material in a day. If she uses most of it on the first egg the second egg may be shell-less or have a really thin shell.

There are different triggers to tell a hen to release a yolk to start the egg making process. For hens that lay an egg a day. laying an egg can trigger her to release a yolk to start the next egg. Another trigger is linked to daylight, that is set up so she doesn't need to lay an egg after dark. I'm sure there are more triggers I don't know about. Different triggers work on different hens differently. All hens are not the same.

When I have an issue like this I try t decide if it is an individual hen issue or a flockwide issue. I don't want to mess the ones up that are doing fine by treating them for something that is not wrong with them. From what I read I think this is an individual hen issue, not a flockwide issue.

I would not know how to treat it anyway. I assume she is eating and drinking what they all eat and drink. Sometimes a high protein diet can contribute to a hen releasing an extra yolk but if the others ae doing OK I'd really hesitate to change anything.

What are the risks to that hen? Personally I would not worry about her laying two eggs a day as far as nutrition goes. The size of the eggs will depend on what she eats so I don't think she will starve herself laying that many eggs. The eggs will just be smaller and she will probably eat more. That's just my opinion, I don't have any research to back that up. A hen has a limited number of ova that can be turned into egg yolks when she is hatched, that number does not grow. The egg laying industry has a term for that, a slick hen. If she lives to an old age that could happen.

The only issue that would bother me is if she is laying some shell-less or thin shelled eggs to the point that they are easy to break. A steady supply of broken eggs might teach your hens to become egg eaters. An egg eater is a hen that purposely opens an egg to eat it. About any hen will eat an egg that is already broken, to me that's not an egg eater. It's when they learn to pen an egg on purpose that it becomes a problem.

If the eggs break in the nest you have a mess to contend with. The nest needs to be cleaned a lot and you can get a mess on the other eggs.

Another possible problem is if a thin or shell-less egg breaks inside the hen before it is laid she can have a medical emergency. If the shells are OK none of this is likely. So how thick are those shells?

I don't know if this is any help. I don't know how to affect her triggers in releasing those yolks. Unless the shells are thin I don't think it's a huge issue. Personally I'd never try to hatch any of her eggs, her pullets might inherit the tendency.

Good luck!