Overproductive (?) Buff Orp

[specklesmom]

We got 5 day old chicks on March 12th--3 Barred Rocks and 2 Buff Orpingtons. One of the Buffs is very friendly and is definitely my favorite. I'm concerned because she laid her first egg, pullet sized, on August 31 and has laid an egg every single day since. The other Buff began laying small eggs a few days ago but she has not laid every day. Their eggs are slightly different in color, as are their feathers, so we know "Blondie" is the one laying every day. None of the Barred Rocks has laid yet. Obviously these girls are pets and eggs are just a very nice bonus. I doubt there is anything I can do about it but I am worried my favorite baby is going to blow a gasket or something. My only experience has been with BRs and I expected them to be first to lay. If it takes 25 to 26 hours for an egg to form how is Blondie producing an egg a day? I'd rather she never lays another egg and has a long, happy and healthy life. So far she has ignored my advice to lay off the laying. At least her eggs are not increasing in size and they have strong shells. Advice, comments or whatever appreciated.

 

[Sapphire Sebright]

We got 5 day old chicks on March 12th--3 Barred Rocks and 2 Buff Orpingtons. One of the Buffs is very friendly and is definitely my favorite. I'm concerned because she laid her first egg, pullet sized, on August 31 and has laid an egg every single day since. The other Buff began laying small eggs a few days ago but she has not laid every day. Their eggs are slightly different in color, as are their feathers, so we know "Blondie" is the one laying every day. None of the Barred Rocks has laid yet. Obviously these girls are pets and eggs are just a very nice bonus. I doubt there is anything I can do about it but I am worried my favorite baby is going to blow a gasket or something. My only experience has been with BRs and I expected them to be first to lay. If it takes 25 to 26 hours for an egg to form how is Blondie producing an egg a day? I'd rather she never lays another egg and has a long, happy and healthy life. So far she has ignored my advice to lay off the laying. At least her eggs are not increasing in size and they have strong shells. Advice, comments or whatever appreciated.

She should be fine. Some hens lay eggs more frequently than others, or they might start out fast before slowing down.
One of my hens would, at least once a week, lay an egg in the morning and then lay a soft-shelled egg towards evening. She was perfectly healthy.
Some hens can lay upwards of 300 eggs per year, once they get going, so of course there are going to be times when she pumps them out one after the other -- your sweet Blondie is most likely fine.

 

[specklesmom]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your response and feel less worried.

 

[Eva2020]

I'm sure she is just fine! Some chickens just lay more than others. I got month old chicks at the end of april and they also started laying in august! you shouldn't be worried if the eggs look fine. As she gets older (and bigger), she will lay less frequently, but her eggs will be larger.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I have an Orpington that lays Double yolkers occasionally, but today she laid a quadruple yolker today.

 

[Allthefloofs]

Our Buff Orp lays an egg for about two weeks every day by 9 am. Every day. Then around the 14 day mark she takes a day off, only to resume laying an eggs every day before 9 am. Our super blue lays most days, she has been laying for about three months and has only taken two breaks. The rest cycle more, their laying times move forward an hour or so every day until they naturally take a break, but those two you could set a watch to. Just they way they work.

 

[MysteryChicken]

My Orpingtons are also very frequent layers.

 

[specklesmom]

Hearing these examples is reassuring. Wow-a quadruple yolker! One of the first eggs Blondie laid had two yolks; not much room remaining for the egg white in a pullet egg. Blondie seems to be following your girl's before 9:00 AM schedule, Allthefloofs. The other Buff, Ruby (the redhead) seems to "sleep in" and has laid a couple of hours after Blondie on her "egg days". They have selected nest boxes as far apart as possible. Privacy seems to be important. I told my husband I'm thinking about making curtains. He isn't sure if I'm serious or not but he does remember the Christmas capes, edged with white fake fur I stitched up for our first two ladies. I just wanted to respond appropriately to the holiday cards we receive featuring little dogs in various costumes.

 

[Allthefloofs]

Hearing these examples is reassuring. Wow-a quadruple yolker! One of the first eggs Blondie laid had two yolks; not much room remaining for the egg white in a pullet egg. Blondie seems to be following your girl's before 9:00 AM schedule, Allthefloofs. The other Buff, Ruby (the redhead) seems to "sleep in" and has laid a couple of hours after Blondie on her "egg days". They have selected nest boxes as far apart as possible. Privacy seems to be important. I told my husband I'm thinking about making curtains. He isn't sure if I'm serious or not but he does remember the Christmas capes, edged with white fake fur I stitched up for our first two ladies. I just wanted to respond appropriately to the holiday cards we receive featuring little dogs in various costumes.

Christmas capes! Now I feel the need to make one! Do you have pictures? That is so inspired, I love it . I have been so fascinated by the differences between all of our girls, it is fun to get a sense of their personalities and all their inner workings. It has been helpful too, I knew when one of our girls was eggbound pretty quickly and got her in the warm epsom salt bath and massaged the bound egg to get it moving, but if I hadn't paid attention to her laying habits it might have gotten missed!

 

[specklesmom]

I will have to look and see if I can locate any photos of Speckles (RIP) and Whitey (#@$!) in their Christmas outfits. The capes were just a semi-circle and I used ribbon for ties. They totally rejected the little hats and it turned out to be too much work to get their ankle bows tied on. This happened around 10 years ago so the photo hunt may take a while.....Pre-digital. Not that I can locate anything more recent either.....