Two eggs in one day.

[Sunshine Coop]

I have 3 hens and for the past 3 days I have gotten an egg from each one. Literally, one minute ago (I'm watching my chickens free range while I type this) my hen was looking very sluggish. She was standing by the coop and not following the flock. I went out there to check on her and she started standing like a penguin. I thought she was egg bound, but then she laid an egg in the middle of my yard. She had already laid this morning though and is very good about going in the nesting box to lay. This one hen in particular I call an over achiever. Almost all of her eggs have two yolks and are in general just bigger than my other eggs. The egg she just laid was a leather. This isn't the first shelless egg she's laid. Is it normal for young hens to lay leather eggs or does my hen have a calcium deficiency.

 

[DobieLover]

I have 3 hens and for the past 3 days I have gotten an egg from each one. Literally, one minute ago (I'm watching my chickens free range while I type this) my hen was looking very sluggish. She was standing by the coop and not following the flock. I went out there to check on her and she started standing like a penguin. I thought she was egg bound, but then she laid an egg in the middle of my yard. She had already laid this morning though and is very good about going in the nesting box to lay. This one hen in particular I call an over achiever. Almost all of her eggs have two yolks and are in general just bigger than my other eggs. The egg she just laid was a leather. This isn't the first shelless egg she's laid. Is it normal for young hens to lay leather eggs or does my hen have a calcium deficiency.

It's not normal for pullets to lay soft shell or shell less eggs but it's not uncommon.
Are you supplementing calcium in the form of free choice oyster shell? If so, how many containers do they have?
When my pullets are working the kinks out of their reproductive systems I like to give them what I call a 'calcium infusion' about every 3 days or so. I mix up a handful of oyster shell with about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt and feed them that.
I also microwave egg shells, crush them up and feed those. They are more of a treat for the hens but are still a good calcium source with a bit of protein from the cooked egg whites.

 

[azygous]

Your little hen has an issue that can end up killing her, or at least make her very sick, and possibly sterile. Sorry for what may seem hyperbole. But this is correctable if you get right on it and stay on it.

I've had a number of hens over the years that released two eggs in the 25 hour cycle. This is not the "mother lode" it may seem. Even double yolk eggs are problematic since they tend to be overly large and more easily get stuck inside.

Such a hen needs her cycle to be "reset". You do this by giving a people calcium supplement, preferably calcium citrate with D3 since it's most readily absorbed. It should be at least 500mg and given once a day until things revert to normal.

All of my hens that had this issue had episodes of stuck eggs, being egg bound, and collapsed eggs. Since releasing two eggs into the egg canal requires a double load of calcium in the shell gland, it almost always results in one egg, usually the second one, being shell-less.

Shell-less eggs are more difficult to pass, and they are also more susceptible to collapsing inside the hen. This makes for ripe conditions for bacteria to take hold in the broken egg yolk, and the resulting inflammation can make a hen sterile if the infection isn't brought under control very quickly with an antibiotic. There is often a serious complication involving vent prolapse.

Last season I had a six-year old EE with the two-egg issue. It took a month on daily calcium citrate for her cycle to reset to one egg per cycle. This season, she has had no problems at all. Another hen is eleven and she keeps trying every season to hold onto her egg laying career. She's so old that no amount of calcium supplements improves her shell gland function, so every year she gets into trouble with an egg collapsing inside her. Every year, I manage to save her from certain death, including complications from prolapse. She's a Wyandotte, and they're egg laying fiends.

The cure is simple and easy - a single calcium tablet given directly into the beak. No need to crush. Pop it in and she will swallow it easily. Not to do anything about this will bring certain grief as I've outlined above. Continue the calcium tablets until she is laying one good quality egg per cycle. Then you can stop the supplement.

 

[aart]

What age(in weeks or months) and breed is this bird and how long has she been laying?

 

[Sunshine Coop]

What age(in weeks or months) and breed is this bird and how long has she been laying?

She is about 19-20 weeks and I do not know her breed. SHe has been laying for about 2 weeks.

 

[Sunshine Coop]

It's not normal for pullets to lay soft shell or shell less eggs but it's not uncommon.
Are you supplementing calcium in the form of free choice oyster shell? If so, how many containers do they have?
When my pullets are working the kinks out of their reproductive systems I like to give them what I call a 'calcium infusion' about every 3 days or so. I mix up a handful of oyster shell with about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of Greek yogurt and feed them that.
I also microwave egg shells, crush them up and feed those. They are more of a treat for the hens but are still a good calcium source with a bit of protein from the cooked egg whites.

I give my hens crushed up egg shells.

 

[Sunshine Coop]

Your little hen has an issue that can end up killing her, or at least make her very sick, and possibly sterile. Sorry for what may seem hyperbole. But this is correctable if you get right on it and stay on it.

I've had a number of hens over the years that released two eggs in the 25 hour cycle. This is not the "mother lode" it may seem. Even double yolk eggs are problematic since they tend to be overly large and more easily get stuck inside.

Such a hen needs her cycle to be "reset". You do this by giving a people calcium supplement, preferably calcium citrate with D3 since it's most readily absorbed. It should be at least 500mg and given once a day until things revert to normal.

All of my hens that had this issue had episodes of stuck eggs, being egg bound, and collapsed eggs. Since releasing two eggs into the egg canal requires a double load of calcium in the shell gland, it almost always results in one egg, usually the second one, being shell-less.

Shell-less eggs are more difficult to pass, and they are also more susceptible to collapsing inside the hen. This makes for ripe conditions for bacteria to take hold in the broken egg yolk, and the resulting inflammation can make a hen sterile if the infection isn't brought under control very quickly with an antibiotic. There is often a serious complication involving vent prolapse.

Last season I had a six-year old EE with the two-egg issue. It took a month on daily calcium citrate for her cycle to reset to one egg per cycle. This season, she has had no problems at all. Another hen is eleven and she keeps trying every season to hold onto her egg laying career. She's so old that no amount of calcium supplements improves her shell gland function, so every year she gets into trouble with an egg collapsing inside her. Every year, I manage to save her from certain death, including complications from prolapse. She's a Wyandotte, and they're egg laying fiends.

The cure is simple and easy - a single calcium tablet given directly into the beak. No need to crush. Pop it in and she will swallow it easily. Not to do anything about this will bring certain grief as I've outlined above. Continue the calcium tablets until she is laying one good quality egg per cycle. Then you can stop the supplement.

I gave her a 500mg calcium pill but she wouldn't let me put it in her beak so I crushed it up and put in some scrambled egg. She got most of it.

 

[azygous]

To get a pill into a chicken beak, pull down on her wattles and that forces her to open her beak. Shove the pill into the side of her beak and it will go right down. It's quicker and easier, once you master the technique, that fussing with crushing the tablet.

 

[Sunshine Coop]

To get a pill into a chicken beak, pull down on her wattles and that forces her to open her beak. Shove the pill into the side of her beak and it will go right down. It's quicker and easier, once you master the technique, that fussing with crushing the tablet.

Thank you!!!

 

[aart]

She is about 19-20 weeks and I do not know her breed.
SHe has been laying for about 2 weeks.

Can you pots a pic of her?
Could still be startup glitches.