Hen laying 2 eggs at a time

[Lilka]

Hi everyone. I apologize if this has already been posted before. We have a young hen (5 months old), which was handraised as a little chick. The other hens bully her and she hates her enclosure, so she still sleeps in our garage, perched on the handlebars of our lawnmower. We knew that she would be laying soon. She was very vocal (not cackling, but other loud sounds) and "engaging" with the rooster and would spend hours scratching everywhere, on top of shelves, my desk, looking for a place for her nest. She would get up, and cackle, but no egg! Then we discovered early in the mornings, underneath where she perched at night, 2 or 3 eggs...1 solid & 1 or 2 soft-shelled. This morning, 2 eggs..1 solid, 1 soft-shelled. Is this normal for a young hen? Do they know instinctively where to go, to lay, what to do? She is otherwise a happy, sweet-natured 100% free-range hen.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Totally normal! Working out kinks, do you have anywhere for her to lay? It can be as simple as an empty dresser drawer filled with straw and pine shavings.

 

[Lilka]

Totally normal! Working out kinks, do you have anywhere for her to lay? It can be as simple as an empty dresser drawer filled with straw and pine shavin

Totally normal! Working out kinks, do you have anywhere for her to lay? It can be as simple as an empty dresser drawer filled with straw and pine shavings.

Yes, there are plenty of places for her to lay. The "laying" takes place in the early, dark hours of the morning, while she's perching. This morning again, there were 2 eggs.

 

[defazzy]

It's perfectly normal for a hen to lay two eggs, so I would not worry about health issues at all.

It takes about a day for an egg to form. The yolks are released from the ovary and pass through the oviduct, where the egg whites and shell build around it. There are multiple ways to get two eggs, but in your case, it's probably due to stress, and it's not that the ovary is releasing two yolks at once. So the first egg is not released because of stress, and the second one catches up on the first one, which results in two eggs at once. Here is an article that explains it better.

In young pullets, the machinery is still kickstarting, and it's perfectly normal to have abnormal eggs like soft shell eggs. Give it a couple of days/weeks, and it will turn to normal. You really have to solve the stress issues somehow. If the problem of the soft shells stays, there can be other reasons for them to lay thin-shelled eggs, but I wouldn't worry.