WOW saw my hen lay two eggs in a row

[dancingbear]

Quote:
It's not common, but it does happen. Hens usually lay on a 25-28 hour cycle, so they lay a little later every day. When the cycle reaches a point where they'd be laying after dark, many hens skip a day and resume laying the next day, at daybreak, starting the cycle over. I think sometimes the egg from the "break" day is retained, laid the next day, and might be followed very closely, even immediately, by the next egg.

All readers please note: Not all hens lay daily. Egg production depends on many things, including diet, age of the hen, season, how much daylight they get, what breed she is, whether she's confined or not, whether she goes broody or not, and other things. If you have a hen that lays, but not on the above described schedule, please don't get all freaked out about it. There are MANY variables, there are no exact timetables for anything a chicken does!

 

[Eliza]

LATEST UPDATE: I got 6 eggs today! 2 in the am, and 4 in the pm all in the nest box. I also shut the light off, and the coop was darker today during the day - so I'm thinking that the mood was quieter in there. Chickens on the oyster shell and layer pellets. they are enjoying the nest box. 3 more nest boxes going in tomorrow. They also move the golf balls around - like they are uncomfortable or something!

Thanks for the information about the laying schedule - that makes total sense.

I also have one hen that lays dinosaur eggs! They're big enough to be triple yolkers but they are not. Has any one ever seen that?

thanks again.

 

[dancingbear]

I've gotten eggs like that, now and then. Usually they turn out to be double or even triple yolks, but a few have just been enormous single yolks.

I thought about trying to hatch one, but from what I've read about hatching abnormal eggs, it doesn't seem like a good idea. The chicks usually die in shell or shortly after hatch. All kinds of weird deformities.

 

[onthespot]

I just hatched one out a "bullet" egg, even though they say not to. Now I know why. It couldn't move around enough to hatch and needed a little help. It was a SKINNY li'l guy/girl when it hatched. It was weak. The yolk was completely absorbed, but it barely moved for two days and i thought it was never going to get strong enough to stand up. I gave it sips of water throughout the day and dipped its beak in powdered chick starter and let it be in with the other chicks, for stimulation and to keep it motivated, even if the motivation was in the form of mostly being stepped on occasionally and having its toes pulled. Day three it seems to be eating and this afternoon it even is walking around and looks coordinated enough, even though it is still very small and skinny. I don't think I will try another "bullet egg" even if this one turns out okay. Too stressful for me, and for the chick too.

 

[Eliza]

OH BOY, OH BOY! The girls are back in action! 8 eggs today. Decorum and peace in the coop. They really like those nest boxes! The shells on the egss are darker and seem thicker - could 2 days with Oyster Shell make that much difference so soon?

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

Quote:
Well if any of what you just said looks like either of these videos, shes fine.

 

[NYREDS]

Feeding back crushed egg shells or even crushed boiled eggs with the shells still on them won't lead to egg laying. Chickens aren't smart enough to make the connection between those things & their eggs.
Sometimes you'll get an egg eater & they will teach others to eat eggs too. It's a hard habit to break & it's best to just remove the culprit. They make good soup.

There;s nothing wrong with the feed you're using. All I have fed for years is a high protein game bird feed. The birds seem to thrive on the extra protein. Chickens are omnivores and their natural diet would include more protein than layer contains. Just remember to keep Oyster shell available for them as well as grit. Oyster shell in NOT grit, it's not hard enough. Oyster shell is ground up in the gizzard & the calcium absorbed. Your feed store should have grit which is small pieces of granite.

 

[dancingbear]

If your birds free range, they'll find their own grit. If they don't have access to outdoor ground, then yeah, gotta have grit.

I agree with NYREDS, the higher protein feed is great. Last fall we had a problem getting good quality feed. The feed at one place was half hulls and bug poop, the other major supplier in our area was even worse. My chickens stopped laying altogether for almost 4months. Then I found a new feed dealer, who had decent feed, also got a protein supplement for them, (soybean meal) and they were laying again almost overnight. That was shortly before Winter Solstice, and I did NOT add extra light, so it was the change in feed that did the trick. That was the only time my chickens ever stopped laying. They'd slowed down before, for molt, as they did this year, but never a total stop.

This year they got slow, but never stopped. Better feed, less egg loss. I added light, but nothing changed. Then just before Solstice again, egg production started increasing again. Almost back to normal now. A couple may not quite be though molt, I did notice 2 raggedy hens today. Late molters, I guess.

Again, I agree with NYREDS, the crushed eggs and shell didn't start this. I throw crushed shell out to them all the time, and if I drop an egg, or toss out a badly cracked one, they're on it instantly, but they don't show any interest in the eggs in the nests-unless one gets broken, but I try to check often enough not to leave things like that very long.

If you can get your girls to lay in nest boxes most of the time, and have the nests somewhat darkened, the others will usually leave the eggs alone. If you can't get the culprits to stop, though, you may need to eliminate the problem birds, before they corrupt everybody else.

I have read where somebody broke the egg eating habit by isolating the culprits, and setting up something with a sloped box that the egg rolled into a slot to a "safe area" where the hens wouldn't see it. Then after a couple of weeks, I guess they forgot about eating eggs. I think they also made changes to the regular nests, like I wrote above.

 

[emandmikey]

I have a Serama Pullet who layed two eggs in a row last week... it was her second week laying. She layed for 5 days in a row, then skipped a day, and the next day layed 2 within 20 minutes of each other! I was so surprised! I guess the first one was retained from the day before - anyway, it was neat!