Hen woke up in middle of the night, laid a soft shelled egg, and started eating it.

[PrettyPeachy12]

I've had my hen for over a year and she has never done anything like this. I'm worried this will be a habit and the noise to my neighbors will be the reason why I won't be able to keep my hen.

I heard her call at midnight and found that she desperately wanted out, which is something she usually does in the morning when the sun comes up. She very specifically walked up to a table, jumped on top of it, and laid a soft-shelled egg. I moved her back into her usual coop area but she insisted to come back out. I let her out and she went back to the table where her egg was and started to eat the egg. She refuses to leave the table and is sleeping there.

Very confused and unsure what to do about waking up in middle of the night and the egg eating. The only thing I can think of that might've awoken her is that a family member moved back in and now occupies a room with bright lights but no blinds, which pretty much brightens up my backyard, but I've used that room in the past at night and it was fine.

 

[Belgianchickies]

Happened to me before, a few times with different chickens and everything went back to normal in a day or two.
Not exactly sure why it happens(in the middle of the night) but I think it will be fine, sometimes they just fail an egg.

 

[chuckachucka]

This is very strange. Hens usually lay during daylight hours and if it is a soft shelled egg it's odd that she felt the need to come out of her coop in the night to lay it. Has she ever laid on that table before?
First off you need to consider why she laid the soft shelled egg. Newly laying pullets can have issues with egg quality as well as hens going into or through a moult. Otherwise soft shells are usually due to a lack of calcium or illness. Sometimes if they are going broody and their body is going to stop egg production they can lay a soft shell or no shell egg.
Has she laid this type of egg before?

The good news is that hens rarely lay these eggs regularly and also hens egg laying cycles are longer than 24 hours so a hen should lay slightly later every day. This means that she shouldn't ccontinue to lay in the middle of the night for more than a few days so I wouldn't be too quick to consider rehoming her because of this.

 

[chuckachucka]

Just re read your post and is it possible she is broody? Hens do return to their 'nest' sometimes even if that nest is actually a table and if they find a soft egg they will eat it because it doesn't register as an egg in their minds. However they will usually leave the nest again.

 

[PrettyPeachy12]

Thanks everyone! She calmed down and I moved her back to her usually sleeping area, where she stayed for the rest of the night.

It's about 12 hours later, she tried to lay another egg, sang her egg song, but no egg. Will update for future readers.

 

[Belgianchickies]

Next egg will be fine, I'm 90% sure

 

[PrettyPeachy12]

Update: Her cycle seems to have returned to normal but have not laid eggs ever since, ~48 hours ago.

 

[pennyJo1960]

is she your only bird?

 

[PrettyPeachy12]

is she your only bird?

Yes, she's my only bird

Update 2: On Thursday she laid an egg and it seemed like her cycle went back to normal, however, at night she was back up on the table with a piece of soft eggshell coming out of her vert. I helped remove the shell and she discharged what looked like clear egg whites. She also continues to roost at the table I mentioned on the initial post.

 

[pennyJo1960]

that is part of you problem they are extremely social birds
they can die of loneliness