Hen Laid 2 eggs - 1 hard, 1 soft

[FrozenPony]

I know hens can only produce 1 egg in a 24-36 hour period of time...so I've read.

You can imagine my shock when I got up and found our hen, Omelet, had laid a normal hard egg and a soft-shelled egg. She had not laid her usual morning egg the day before. So...I suspect the hard egg got stuck on it's way out allowing the other egg to start development? And then she pushed them both out?

We only have the one hen, a Rhode Island Red - and a rooster - we keep as pets. I literally bring them inside (the basement) at night. So no chance another bird laid one or the other egg.

The normal egg was, well, normal...even a little smaller than the huge eggs she usually lays. The "soft-shelled" egg, also normal but for the soft shell.

She has been acting perfectly normal - although, it's a sauna outside, northeast heatwave and all - but she's been eating, drinking, ranging just fine with the rest of the neighbor birds.

I don't know. It's weird. If anyone can shed light, I'd appreciate.

FP

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've read a lot of things, some of them are wrong. Hens can lay more than one egg a day as you have seen. There are certain triggers that cause a hen to release a yolk to start a new egg. But occasionally a hen messes up. She might release two yolks at a time, in which case you could get a double-yolked egg. If there is a space between when they are released you often get two eggs.

A hen normally only makes a certain amount of some material for an egg, I'm thinking specifically about shell material. If she uses that on the first egg there may not be enough shell material for the second so it is soft or thin shelled.

If it is a consistent thing it's not great. But a rare event, well aren't we all allowed and occasional oops? Don't worry unless it becomes consistent.