My hen laid FOUR EGGS this morning!!

[DavisNinja]

Hi, I'm totally new to this forum, hoping someone can give me some advice.
We have one little black silkie hen, about a year old, and she sleeps inside the house with us (we've spoiled her rotten ever since she had a traumatic experience--her flock was attacked by raccoons and she was the only one out of five who survived). She has always been tiny and has never laid any eggs...until yesterday. We put her outside in the morning and were thrilled to see two eggs in her coop when we checked on her later in the day. I searched the whole yard thoroughly, just to see if she'd possibly been laying for a while and we just hadn't noticed. Nothing, no other eggs. Looks like she laid two on her first try.
Then this morning she woke up early and was screeching at me (she's usually very quiet and likes to sleep in), pecked at the door until I let her out. It was pouring rain, and she's never asked to go out before, she prefers being inside. I checked on her about two hours later, after the rain had let up, and there were FOUR eggs in the coop! All the eggs look healthy, with hard shells, she seems fine, but I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that our tiny little girl just laid four eggs in two hours.
Should I be worried? Should she see a vet? Is it possible that she has just been backed up and didn't quite no how to lay, so now she's clearing out a whole bunch at once?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Is she your only chicken? I have heard of hens lay one egg in the am than another towards dusk but I don't believe it's possible for them to lay 4 eggs in 4 hours. It takes about 24 hour for a shell to be applied to an egg under normal conditions, so it's technically impossible for them to produce eggs so rapidly. I would suspect other birds are laying them.

 

[lilmillefleur]

did you miss checking the other days? She could have laid them on different days.

 

[DavisNinja]

She is our only chicken, and the eggs definitely weren't there when she went out to her coop this morning. And if they're not from her, I still think they're all from the same bird because they match perfectly. All on the small side, light brown, healthy shells. We've kept chickens for about five years now and never seen anything like it!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Is it possible they were buried in the nest? My bantams have been known to kick some bedding over the nest so I miss eggs.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Though never say never with chickens.

 

[DavisNinja]

I've checked every nook and cranny in the coop to make sure there are no other eggs, and we've definitely cleared them all out. I'll post an update again tomorrow; if there are multiple eggs again, we officially have a magical chicken!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Definitely give an update. A magical chicken would be a good thing.

 

[FlyWheel]

I'd say! You got to get that biddy fertilized and start selling the offspring. You'll make a fortune!

 

[Teila]

Hey DavisNinja subscribing because I would love to hear the outcome and if you do have a magical little girl.

One thought that I had when reading .. and I am sorry to hear of your loss

... when you say she was the only survivor, are you certain? Sorry, it sounds horrible, but did you see the bodies? If not, any chance that some actually escaped and are now living in the surrounding area, returning to lay eggs in the coop and you are just not seeing them?