Two first eggs and then nothing for a week, Is this normal?

[harleyhappy]

Hello Backyardigans! I need your help, I'm new and confused....

I got my first egg last week on July 5th (or maybe July 4th as I was out of town for two nights), then I got another egg July 6th. I was very excited! Since then no eggs! Is this normal? I usually let them out to free range for a few hours in the evening and I did keep them in the run thursday through sunday, just to make sure that they weren't hiding eggs under to porch or anything and still no more eggs. i did let them free range yesterday as they were getting a little neurotic and clearly wanted to forage. As it is raining now, they will stay home today.

How long until they pick up a schedule? They are twenty weeks old. The first egg was normal big sized, with three little yolks. The second egg was smaller and had one yolk. I suspect the eggs may have come from different girls as they were different shades of brown. I am attaching pictures.

Please advise, I'm dying to know what is going on! Thank you!

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Hmmmm...

I have had a double yolk before but not one without a yolk. I am intereted to see what someone might know about this and egg laying cycles. Because it seems like my hen takes a few days off here and there too. Hopefully someone will have an answer for you!

 

[Happy Chooks]

Those eggs are from 2 different pullets. And it is normal for laying to be sporadic at first. You get all sorts of strange eggs when they are working the kinks out of the egg factory. Give them some time, and they'll get on with laying more regularly.

 

[burquechick]

I agree. This is totally normal. My hens did the same thing when they first started. We got one egg and then nothing for a long time.

 

[harleyhappy]

Thanks for all the replies! I am especially glad to have confirmation that the eggs are from separate hens.

Would anyone like to guess who laid which egg? I suspect that the first egg, the larger one, which is a lighter pinkish brown is from my black australorp and the second egg, which is a darker richer brown is from the golden laced wyandotte. Am I right?

Oddly enough, I was expecting my campine to lay first, as she has been doing the hen squat for the longest, but nothing from her yet.

If I don't let them out to free range until 5 or 6 pm, should they have already done their laying?

Many thanks again!

 

[Happy Chooks]

The Australorp probably laid the large one. The shape and the color are different, so that's why I think it's 2 different hens. Color can vary some, but from what I've found, shape is "generally" the same. (aside from the occasional oblong pullet bullet) If the wyandotte is the only other chicken besides the campine, then she laid the other one. Campine's eggs will be white, so that's easy.

I rarely have a hen lay after 5:00, sometimes the new to laying girls will, but most of the time they are done for the day by then.

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Does anyone know why you sometimes get multiple yolks? Is it just another part of "working out the kinks in the egg factory"?

 

[burquechick]

I don't know, all my wyandottes lay the palest pink eggs, exactly like your first egg there. I've never had an Australorp to compare though. But I imagine there is a lot of variety in the different strains, so could be, could be. Here's an egg chart BTW. It says Australorps lay "brown eggs" and Wyandottes lay "light to rich brown eggs", whatever that means.

@CaliBlueChicken: according to Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, too many yolks can occur when ovulation is too fast or when one yolk moves too slowly and gets joined with another egg. Furthermore, it states that "double yolkers may be laid by a pullet whose production cycle is not yet well synchronized", so it's probably unlikely to occur again, although I have had double yolks occur from the same bird more than once. And it also says, in addition to multiple yolks, hens can also lay no-yolkers, eggs within eggs (extremely rare), and eggs with blood spots or meat spots in them. AND.. in addition to THIS, I personally have had hens lay extremely tiny eggs (for their size) with partial yolks in them. Almost like dwarf eggs (although they call no-yolkers "dwarf eggs"). It is very easy for the hen to wrap albumen and shell around any old thing, so often times you get no-yolkers that contain little lumps of greyish flesh in them, which is a piece of ruptured tissue. I read one story once where a guy surgically implanted an engagement ring into a hen's oviduct so he could present it to his girlfriend once it was laid (inside an egg).

edited to add - please don't try implanting things inside your chickens or the animal police will come and carry me off for mentioning it.

 

[harleyhappy]

very interesting about the different shades of brown. i think to know for sure i am going to have to catch one right after she lays an egg. maybe i'll get lucky, i'm not not if they do the egg song, sometimes they are just loud. i will be patient for more eggs, although i really want more brown eggs, and then when my campine and ameraucana start laying i should have a nice assortment...

 

[CaliBlueChicken]

Quote:
Thank you burquechick!