Egglaying in Winter

[Kacey Elle]

I have a flock of four chickens and they have all been laying very sporadically because of shorter/cloudy days (no supplemental light--I'm okay with them taking a break). I have not had an egg from any of them in the last four days. Then, this morning, it appears that two of my girls each laid two eggs. I have one EE and two blue eggs this morning and two brown eggs from my Delaware. Is this normal during the winter? We did have a somewhat sunny day yesterday and the girls were basking in the sun quite a bit in the afternoon--could that have made the double, double-egg day?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It is suppose to be physically impossible for hens to make 2 complete eggs in 24 because it takes about that long for the shell to be applied to a single, but some have claimed they have gotten 2 eggs a day, so .

 

[Kacey Elle]

That's what I thought, too. And then it happened to half my flock in a day.

Is there any weird way they could have had the egg ready to lay but didn't lay it? So the second one pushed it out? I really don't understand this but all four eggs were warm, like they'd just been laid. And nobody was sitting on them so they couldn't have been warm from chicken body heat. My Delaware is also molting, if that means anything.

 

[alexa009]

I have also experienced this phenomenal occurrence myself. Since egg formation on average occurs once a 24 hours then apparently, your hens had put off a day or more without laying which probably left two inside of the oviduct. Just a hypothetical supposition I thought might be the case.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Only the hen knows. But one left stuck while another us being made does make a bit of sense.

 

[Kacey Elle]

I guess I'll just happily take my miracle double eggs (x2) for the day and buy a lotto ticket.

Thanks!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I guess I'll just happily take my miracle double eggs (x2) for the day and buy a lotto ticket.

Thanks!

Or make a two egg omelet.

 

[aart]

But one left stuck while another us being made does make a bit of sense.

Ehh...not really enough room in there to hold one fully shelled egg while another is being shelled. More likely, if you have only one blue layer, you missed gathering a blue egg from the day before...they can bury them sometimes then scratch them up the next day.

I have one EE and two blue eggs this morning and two brown eggs from my Delaware.

What are the other to birds? How old are they all?

 

[Kacey Elle]

Ehh...not really enough room in there to hold one fully shelled egg while another is being shelled. More likely, if you have only one blue layer, you missed gathering a blue egg from the day before...they can bury them sometimes then scratch them up the next day.

That was my first thought but it couldn't be. They lay in a plastic round horse feed container with a thin layer of leaves at the bottom. Nowhere to bury.... Plus, all the eggs were totally clean and when I've had them lay somewhere else and then got two eggs from the same chicken one was always dirtier/dustier so I figured that's what happened. I really think it was two eggs each.

[/QUOTE]What are the other to birds? How old are they all?[/QUOTE]

All are 1.5 years old. The other two are a SLW, whose eggs are a pale brown and much smaller than my Delaware, and a Red Star who doesn't really lay eggs for me (she always eats them because her shells are so thin--repro problem, probably).