Chicken sometimes lays 2 eggs a day, one hard and one soft

I have heard you want to avoid spinach because it can interfere with vitamin d and calcium uptake. I think I'd also heard that garlic can do the same. Our chickens like Kale which has Calcium. I had also read somewhere that consistently laying soft eggs can lead to becoming egg bound and that is why I worried when Violet was doing that. We had one chicken die egg bound and it was pretty horrible.

Meanwhile, Violet is brooding and a friend gave us fertile eggs so she is happily taking care of these eggs and showing normal signs of a broody hen. Atilla went back to the farm with her siblings, and the new chicks that we got are almost ready to go to their own coop house.
 
I have heard you want to avoid spinach because it can interfere with vitamin d and calcium uptake. I think I'd also heard that garlic can do the same. Our chickens like Kale which has Calcium. I had also read somewhere that consistently laying soft eggs can lead to becoming egg bound and that is why I worried when Violet was doing that. We had one chicken die egg bound and it was pretty horrible.

Meanwhile, Violet is brooding and a friend gave us fertile eggs so she is happily taking care of these eggs and showing normal signs of a broody hen. Atilla went back to the farm with her siblings, and the new chicks that we got are almost ready to go to their own coop house.
Great news on yours. 🙂
I didn’t know that about spinach. They love it and won’t touch raw kale. Do you cook yours? There’s garlic in a hen supplement mix that I bought and people seem to think its properties are good for them, but I’ll try removing those things and see if they decide they’ll go forward kale.
Thank you.
 
Nope, I do not cook my Kale, though we have 3 different varieties and they seem to prefer some varieties over others. When we let out chickens out into the garden, they always make a bee line to the kale plants. My husband started growing extra because they were stripping them bare.

Also, before she went broody, even though she had oyster shell available and a laying feed, I found she preferred egg shells, which she found in an old compost heap. So I've been saving egg shells and baking them on low heat at about 250 degrees for an hour to kill any salmonella, then I crush it with a marble rolling pin I have. When she is done being broody and goes back on laying feed, I'll put down the eggshells in addition to the oyster shell to give her a choice. But for now she is on starter feed as was recommended until about 5 weeks after the chicks hatch. Since this is her first time I'm hoping for the best.
 
Nope, I do not cook my Kale, though we have 3 different varieties and they seem to prefer some varieties over others. When we let out chickens out into the garden, they always make a bee line to the kale plants. My husband started growing extra because they were stripping them bare.

Also, before she went broody, even though she had oyster shell available and a laying feed, I found she preferred egg shells, which she found in an old compost heap. So I've been saving egg shells and baking them on low heat at about 250 degrees for an hour to kill any salmonella, then I crush it with a marble rolling pin I have. When she is done being broody and goes back on laying feed, I'll put down the eggshells in addition to the oyster shell to give her a choice. But for now she is on starter feed as was recommended until about 5 weeks after the chicks hatch. Since this is her first time I'm hoping for the best.
Thanks. Your sound like they’re on a nice path.

None of my kale got beyond infancy last year so I have no idea what they prefer! They do like broccoli leaves but not the broccolli.
I’m just not sure why a hen would be laying two eggs a day. Given one has a very healthy shell, I’m not surprised the second doesn’t, but don’t know if I should do something for her or if it’s just a genetic abnormality and let it run it’s course. Rescue hens are all a bit raggedy and I know what to expect, but I don’t know with a supposedly healthy one. Am hoping she grows out of it.
Good luck with yours and thanks for the advice.
 
I recommend having oyster shells available to your hens always.
My chickens have had crushed oyster shell available since even before they started laying eggs. I never saw my australorp use it though my brahmas did. My australorp, on the other hand, did find some ancient egg shells in our compost and I saw her eat that. Ever since I have made crushed eggshells available that I dried first on low heat in the oven to kill anything.
 
Thanks. Yes, they have baked shells, oyster shells and grit.

I’ve just videoed the moments before she lays a soft egg. She often hangs around me when she’s about to lay one. One other hen is a little too interested so I missed the actual lay because I was moving the other hen away.

I’m pretty sure one of the morning’s eggs were hers, and now she’s laid a soft one - 12 ish hours later.

I’ve never heard of a hen laying twice a day. I guess people have very varied periods, so it’s not beyond the realms of possibility, but seems strange.

Is summer giving her too much light? They have an automatic door opener so are out at about 5am. She’s young, seems otherwise healthy and happy. She’s my only non-rescue.

Any advice or info welcome.
 

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Yesterday, I saw her pass three soft eggs in 4 hours. She seems happy enough today but there’s very little information about hen reproductive abnormalities.
 
I'm wondering if she was egg bound. When Lavender died, our blue Australorp, my husband did a necropsy. We found 4 soft eggs, a broken yoke and a hard egg (that somehow got sent back up the pipe and was in the wrong area). She'd become egg bound. By the time the yolk had broken it was too late to try to save her. We have an avian vet in our area. Once Violet is done raising her adopted chicks I'll be watching to see if she starts laying soft eggs again. If she does, I'll be calling the vet this time.
 
Very sad news for Lavender, but that’s interesting regarding egg cycles, thank you.

Celia doesn’t seem to have had a break in laying unless I’m misidentifying her eggs. She’s my only non rescue so her eggs have been smaller and smoother in texture & colour than the others but perhaps one of the rescues has settled enough to be laying more regular eggs.

As today has worn on, she seems to be eating more than she has recently, so I hope if she was egg bound, she’s cleared it herself and is on the mend.

I’m not sure I could do a hentopsy, but it sounds like they can be revealing.

Many thanks agai
 

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