Weird eggs?

[HennaRose]

I have a mixed-age flock. My three big girls - Easter Egger, RIR, Australorp - are all 11 months old. The babies - one white Leghorn, two Buttercups, two Fayoumis -are all 5 months old. Last night, someone laid a soft-shelled egg from the roost - from its size and placement, I suspect it was my Leghorn, Zoe, because it was biggish, white, and, well, right underneath Zoe.

I know soft-shelled eggs can happen in young chickens with their first attempts, so I'm not worried about that (though none of my big girls, including a Leghorn I had before she died, ever laid soft-shelled eggs). I topped off the oyster-shell feeder and have ordered some more layer feed - I'd had the whole flock on grower. I brought in the one from yesterday to inspect it. But this morning at feeding time I saw another soft-shelled white egg in the coop under the roost where Zoe had been last night, but somebird had already gotten into it and eaten its contents before I got out there. This morning's egg was the same size and color as the one from last night.


Can it happen that a bird will lay more than one egg in a 24-hour period if they're both soft-shelled, or is it more likely that one of my other littles is laying too? I can't tell from behavior - Zoe has started to do the submissive squat, but the Buttercups and Fayoumis all still run away from me.

 

[sumi]

Though very rare, some hens can lay two perfect eggs in a 24-hour period.

The longest part of the egg formation process is the shell formation, which takes about 21 hours. With your hen being so young, I suspect she is working out some kinks in the reproductive system and should start laying "proper" eggs soon. In the meantime, keep an eye out and remove the "oops" eggs asap, before they develop a taste for eggs and you end up with an egg eating problem in the flock.