Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[yvonne.jones.3597]

Possibly a slightly unusual problem as us chicken owners are usually more concerned with chickens not laying but I'm worried mine are laying too many! I have 2 miss Pepperpots I got in May last year and then after we sadly lost our third to a fox just before Christmas I added a bluebelle and colombine in Jan ( around 24 weeks old), so I've now got 4 hydrids in total. Between them we've only had 1 day over the winter when we didn't have an egg and usually it's been 2 or 3. However now spring is here they seem to have gone into overdrive with egg laying.'in the last 2 weeks there's occasions when 1 of them had laid more than once a day and I had started questioning whether the eggs were collected or I was going mad! I've has 13 eggs from them in the last 2 days, 5 yesterday and then 8 today. My worry is, isn't it unhealthy for them to lay this many eggs, I'm worried about them putting so much effort and nutrients into producing eggs. Or is this just a blip which will settle down?

[auntielizzie]

Sorry I can't answer this - but how very strange Perhaps one of the wise ones on the forum can help

 

Are you sure somebody's not playing a trick on you? I just wondered if you have any cheeky teenagers in the house I wouldn't have thought all four chickens would be over producing, but then it wouldn't be possible for one chicken to lay four eggs in one day

 

Nope, I can't explain it

[Beantree]

Laying eggs with less than 24 hours interval between them is an extremely rare occurrence in my experience Yvonne. In 8 years of poultry keeping it has only happened to us twice. The second time by co-incidence was yesterday, when a TNN hen spent all day squawking because she couldn't get into the occupied nest boxes and when she finally went in laid two perfect eggs in 5 minutes. The first time was a hybrid (Blackrock) laid one in the morning then one last thing at night and never repeated it.

 

It takes 24 hours (or far more in some cases) to surround the yolk and add the shell and that can't be speeded up. So I have to conclude that in my opinion it is impossible for 4 hens to lay 8 eggs in one day. Someone is playing a trick I think?

[gavclojak]

It takes 24 hours (or far more in some cases) to surround the yolk and add the shell and that can't be speeded up. So I have to conclude that in my opinion it is impossible for 4 hens to lay 8 eggs in one day. Someone is playing a trick I think?

 

Agreed....has anyone in your family been watching Coronation street???

[Alis girls]

Only had it happen once and that was after a hen had died and I saw it as a present from the great hen house in the sky. Bonkers - course I am - arent we all

[Alis girls]

Been thinking - wouldnt eggs from a shop have date stamps on - impossible to remove.

[Mars]

Not much you can do to make hens lay less. but if you have extra eggs, you can boil them then smash them and give them back to the hens. they will love them and they are nutritious

[eve]

I have hybirds to and i had this problem if u can call it that?. Mine stated laying ok then had it were one chicken nugget laid two a day for weeks then she moulted and settled down .she would lay two weeks straight then miss a day and carry on.ive had her 3 years now and has just started laying less misses two days aweek now she is lovely.

[PixieDust]

Funny you should mention this as Lily my Sussex hybrid laid a softie yesterday and spent the rest of the day trying to lay another. I did wonder if it was physically possible.

[Chickabee]

I've had 2 eggs from one chicken in one day. My Bluebelle has laid an egg within an egg and this week laid a shelless then a normal egg. And mine are getting very noisy too Beantree. The noisiest is my light sussex bantam

[Cat tails]

I chucked them out of the garden this morning, because they were being noisy as well. And about 20 min later went to get them in again... Couldn't find them! Finally found them about 8 houses down in someones garden... So had to chicken wrangle them and herd them back to their own plot of land.

 

I'm quite certain I've had one of the ladies lay two in one day and had one softie in combination with an normal egg too.

 

Not much you really can do about it, I think. Make sure they get enough to eat and enough calcium too. Egg laying is intensive business!

[Valkyrie]

A couple of my orpies when they were young and my cuckoo maran have all laid 2 eggs in one day at some stage. I don't know why it happens, but it's definitely possible. And the only way I knew that was the shape of the eggs and only one brown egg layer at the time. Enjoy because they down tools and do a go slow soon enough!