2 eggs from same chicken same day???

[MistressBrandy]

Ok. Yesterday we got three hens to add to our lonely flock of one. Top left is our original hen which is a production red. Top right is a Delaware blue (I think ??) Bottom left is a buff and the bottom right is an ameraucana. Today we found three eggs in the nesting box. One extra large brown egg (our production) and a green and a smaller blue egg. Our buff is young and not yet laying (the egg would be brown as well) and the Delaware (??) is supposed to lay white eggs. Is it possible that the ameraucana laid two eggs today?? All of the eggs were laid sometime between 8 last night and 1:00pm today. Picture below of the eggs.

 

[MistressBrandy]

 

[MistressBrandy]

Better pic of the colors

 

[usedhobarts]

Hi, I had a similar scenario. I bought 8 laying hens at one time from a farmer when I started my flock last march. I picked them at about 4:30 pm on Sunday. The farmer wanted me to wait that late so they had laid for the day. They were transported in an extra large kennel about an hour back to my place. I needed a couple of things to be finished in my new coop so the hens were in the kennel with food and water until around 7:00pm. I released them into the kennel and in a short time they were roosting. I checked on them around 6:00 am before I went work. They were fine and there were no eggs in the nesting cabinet. When I got home around 8:00 pm a checked the nesting cabinets and much to my surprise there was 9 eggs. Go figure! I only had 8 chickens. LOL. I was told that it was impossible. I'm not a math professor by trade certainly but I can count to 8 and then 9.

The best explanation I got and found reasonibly credible is this and it was from the farmer who sold me the chickens. At certain times chickens go into hyperproduction mode and can actually drop a second egg cell into the egg machine shortly before a finished egg is laid. He figured one of the eight had not laid an egg before I got there. These were all high production reds and quite often laid an egg a day for 7 or 8 days in a row prior to taking a break for a day in the spring time. He said the hen that laid two would have laid the first egg a his place before roost had I not picked them up. With this in mind due to the stress from changing coops and timing she did not lay until sometime early the next morning yet another egg was forming already. It's odd but it can happen however it is genetically impossible I'm told to have a chicken produce two healthy shelled eggs in a single 26 hour cycle.

Some say an egg cell will not drop until provoked by the laying of a complete egg. I tend to agree with this but apparently there are circumstance otherwise. If she continues to lay 2 a day get a go pro mounted in your nesting box and get it on YouTube. You will make millions! Good luck.

Just and FYI , after they laid 9 on Monday, they laid 7 on Tuesday and then laid none until Friday.

After that they started back up with an average of 6 a week each until late July. This in itself lends credence to what the farmer said. The baked all the buns that were already in the proof box Monday and Tuesday and then shut the oven off until Friday when they were comfortable in the new bakery.

 

[MistressBrandy]

So we didn't get any eggs yesterday but today we got a brown, a blue, and a green egg again. Do you think my ameraucana laid two eggs again today?? Is it possible that my Delaware Blue isn't a Delaware Blue and is laying colored eggs? What else could she possibly be? Or is my ameraucana just laying two eggs a day??? Help!

 

[usedhobarts]

Hi, with your new information and the fact that I can't imagine another scenario where your ameraucana could being laying 2 eggs a day other than the rare scenario I posed earlier I would say with reasonable certainty you have 3 girls laying. If the Delaware is laying blue eggs it is definetly not a true Delaware. If the place you got them from had all those different breeds it is most likely a cross of something. Blue egg layers are a little more rare. My understanding is there is only several breeds that lay blue eggs. I read an article where the U of D tried to cross Delawares to produce a blue egg layer and were unsuccessful. If your around during day you should be able to determine who is laying what fairly easy with only 4 hens. How many nesting boxes do you have?

 

[MistressBrandy]

I have two nesting boxes. I will try to keep watch tomorrow to see if I can pinpoint who is laying.