Is 2 eggs a day normal and is it possibly an inherited trait?

[mbensmith]

I have a brown red ameraucana hen that has laid 2 eggs most days for the last 6 months and shows no sign of stopping. Is this an anomaly or is there possibility of breeding this trait? Thanks.

 

[nchls school]

I have a brown red ameraucana hen that has laid 2 eggs most days for the last 6 months and shows no sign of stopping. Is this an anomaly or is there possibility of breeding this trait? Thanks.

Two eggs a day is not normal; especially as an event that happens on a regular basis. And yes it could be an inherited trait that can be passed on. However getting a trait to pass on isn't easy. There are a number of ways that traits can be passed-dominant, recessive, incomplete dominant genes, etc. Then you're looking at a rooster that does not carry the trait. Possibly trying inbreeding. Complex and confusing.

 

[mbensmith]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It probably wasn’t April fool’s Day when you posted so I’ll give you a legitimate answer. It is not normal and genetics could play a part.

It is fairly rare for a hen to produce more than one egg a day but possible. If a hen releases two yolks at the same time you might get a double yolked egg. If there is a little separation in time you could get two eggs in one day. Pullets just coming into lay are usually more likely to do this than hens that have worked the kinks out of their internal egg making factory but some mature hens do occasionally lay double yolked eggs or two in a day.

What is the quality of the eggs? A lot of the time a hen’s body only produces a certain amount of material to make an egg. One normally mentioned is shell material. It’s pretty normal for a hen that lays two eggs in a day to lay at least one shell-less or really thin-shelled egg. She just doesn’t make enough shell material for two eggs.

It takes about 25 hours for an egg to make its journey through the hen’s internal egg making factory from the release of a yolk to start that journey until it is laid. The majority of that time is in the shell gland, getting that shell put on. This chart has some examples of deformities to the shell when two eggs are in that shell gland together. Look at the last two.

Egg Shell Defects
https://www.alltech.com/sites/default/files/alltech-egg-shell-quality-poster.pdf

To produce an egg that is a reasonable percentage of her body weight a hen has to eat a lot of food and get that processes by her digestive system. To imagine a hen eating and processing enough nutrients for body maintenance plus making two normal eggs a day every day is kind of mind-boggling. One thing that can lead to a hen releasing more than one yolk a day on rare occasions is feeding them a really high protein feed. An egg is made up of a lot of things other than protein too, like the yolk is about 1/3 fat. That hen has to be eating and processing a lot of nutrients to be able to do that and still maintain her body.

These are the reasons it is not normal and the egg laying industry has not pursued hen’s laying more than one egg a day.

As far as genetics, the tendency toward this flaw could easily be inherited. If you want to pursue this, breed her back to her son and see if you can concentrate on this trait.

 

[mbensmith]

Here is the chicken and the eggs! She continues to give us 2 eggs 5-6 days out of the week and 1 egg on her "rest days." It is over 6 months now and she's showing no signs of stopping. Eggs are sometimes the same size, sometimes a little different. Both shells are always good and eqq quality is great. The pic is of today's eggs. She laid one around 8 and 1 around 11 this morning. I was wondering about the exact breed she is (I was told Ameraucana) and if there was any advice out there about how to breed her if it is an inherited trai. Thanks.

 

[aart]

They look like they are from 2 different birds, shell shape usually doesn't change much and those look different.......
.......unless you have only 1 chicken.

 

[mbensmith]

Only have a few hens and she's the only one who lays green. It's definitely hers. She does it most every day.

 

[MeepBeep]

They look like they are from 2 different birds, shell shape usually doesn't change much and those look different.......
.......unless you have only 1 chicken.

x2

Only have a few hens and she's the only one who lays green. It's definitely hers. She does it most every day.

Are you sure? Have you isolated her for a day to prove the theory?

 

[mbensmith]

There is no doubt about this. We've watched it a bunch of times ourselves because we didn't believe it at first. Like I said, sometimes the eggs are exactly the same and sometimes a little different size.

 

[Doc McCluckins]

I was wondering about this as well. I have an Ameraucana that lays two eggs a day fairly frequently. I could not believe it either at first but now I know that is for sure what is happening. She is the only one of that kind I have so I know for sure they are hers.