Hen lays rubber eggs every night while roosting

[Snowy Canadian]

Hello, I noticed one night a few weeks ago when putting my chickens away at night that one of my hens was acting strange and looked like it was squatting while roosting. I was a little confused and then it just layed an egg right there on the roosting stand. She had laid a shell less rubber egg, and it actually survived the fall. I didn't think too much of it at the time, as my birds periodically have some unusual eggs, but then she did it again one night, and then a third time over the course of a week. I was really confused as to how and why she was doing it, and how frequently she was doing it, but then I realized after seeing egg yolk on freshly changed bedding that she must be doing this every night. She does actually lay shelled eggs in the box, but she has always been my poorest laying hen, and I think these rubber eggs might be the root cause of how few eggs she normally lays. One day she even layed a normal egg in the nest box, and then a rubber egg that evening. I'm not really worried about any medical issues, because she seems fine otherwise, but she is my favorite hen, so I want to make sure she's laying all right. I am also afraid that all the broken eggs on the ground that the chickens can and will eat might increase the amount of normally eggs they eat. I have 8 hens and none others have this problem, and they all have nice solid shells so I don't think a lack of calcium is the issue. If you know anything about this sort of issue, I would love to hear suggestions, thanks.

Here is one of her rubber eggs I was able to collect, it has a properly formed membrane, and was actually just a perfectly normally and well formed egg inside, it was just missing a shell.

Here is a picture of my hen when she was laying on the roost, she didn't seem to have any struggle or pain, and actually didn't really seem to care about it.

 

[Tonyroo]

Strange, you really should take notes of when she is eating crushed oyster shells or layer pellets. To make sure the other chickens aren't preventing her from eating.

Laying two eggs in a 24 hour time frame, would require her to have a calcium boost to prevent the shell less eggs at night. But laying 2 eggs puts a lot of strain on the hen which can be a serious issue down the road. I really hope it's just a temporary hiccup on her part.

 

[Lenny loves chickens]

Hello, I noticed one night a few weeks ago when putting my chickens away at night that one of my hens was acting strange and looked like it was squatting while roosting. I was a little confused and then it just layed an egg right there on the roosting stand. She had laid a shell less rubber egg, and it actually survived the fall. I didn't think too much of it at the time, as my birds periodically have some unusual eggs, but then she did it again one night, and then a third time over the course of a week. I was really confused as to how and why she was doing it, and how frequently she was doing it, but then I realized after seeing egg yolk on freshly changed bedding that she must be doing this every night. She does actually lay shelled eggs in the box, but she has always been my poorest laying hen, and I think these rubber eggs might be the root cause of how few eggs she normally lays. One day she even layed a normal egg in the nest box, and then a rubber egg that evening. I'm not really worried about any medical issues, because she seems fine otherwise, but she is my favorite hen, so I want to make sure she's laying all right. I am also afraid that all the broken eggs on the ground that the chickens can and will eat might increase the amount of normally eggs they eat. I have 8 hens and none others have this problem, and they all have nice solid shells so I don't think a lack of calcium is the issue. If you know anything about this sort of issue, I would love to hear suggestions, thanks.
View attachment 3091419

Here is one of her rubber eggs I was able to collect, it has a properly formed membrane, and was actually just a perfectly normally and well formed egg inside, it was just missing a shell.

View attachment 3091420

Here is a picture of my hen when she was laying on the roost, she didn't seem to have any struggle or pain, and actually didn't really seem to care about it.

Interesting. What breed is she? I have a chicken that lays two eggs a day her first year. Shell less is different tho especially almost every night. Hopefully its temporary. But I will be interested in what others will say

 

[Snowy Canadian]

Strange, you really should take notes of when she is eating crushed oyster shells or layer pellets. To make sure the other chickens aren't preventing her from eating.

Laying two eggs in a 24 hour time frame, would require her to have a calcium boost to prevent the shell less eggs at night. But laying 2 eggs puts a lot of strain on the hen which can be a serious issue down the road. I really hope it's just a temporary hiccup on her part.

Yeah, I hope its temporary too. She is one of our more dominant hen, and eats as much of the layer crumble feed as the rest of the hens do, so I would have no idea what it is.

 

[Snowy Canadian]

Interesting. What breed is she? I have a chicken that lays two eggs a day her first year. Shell less is different tho especially almost every night. Hopefully its temporary. But I will be interested in what others will say

I have no idea what breed she is sadly, we got her as a mixed breed chick. She is only a bit over a year old and has always been an infrequent layer, so when I realized she was laying rubber eggs at night it was a bit of a surprise. I don't know when she started laying these night eggs, could have been recently, or could have been happening for a while, either way she seems healthy and will hopefully get better eventually.

 

[aart]

Not unusual for a second egg in a day to be softshelled,
or to be laid about anywhere following some odd posturing.
Might be spring surge of hormones.

 

[Beck Chick]

Strange, you really should take notes of when she is eating crushed oyster shells or layer pellets. To make sure the other chickens aren't preventing her from eating.

Laying two eggs in a 24 hour time frame, would require her to have a calcium boost to prevent the shell less eggs at night. But laying 2 eggs puts a lot of strain on the hen which can be a serious issue down the road. I really hope it's just a temporary hiccup on her part.

I have a silky cross that will lay 2 eggs in one day. One being solid in the box and then another with a thin shell that night on the roost. She gets calcium in her layer feed and free choice oyster shells and eggs shells. I wish I knew what was going on with her too. It's only 3 chickens and they all love one box.

 

[eandsm]

Hello, I noticed one night a few weeks ago when putting my chickens away at night that one of my hens was acting strange and looked like it was squatting while roosting. I was a little confused and then it just layed an egg right there on the roosting stand. She had laid a shell less rubber egg, and it actually survived the fall. I didn't think too much of it at the time, as my birds periodically have some unusual eggs, but then she did it again one night, and then a third time over the course of a week. I was really confused as to how and why she was doing it, and how frequently she was doing it, but then I realized after seeing egg yolk on freshly changed bedding that she must be doing this every night. She does actually lay shelled eggs in the box, but she has always been my poorest laying hen, and I think these rubber eggs might be the root cause of how few eggs she normally lays. One day she even layed a normal egg in the nest box, and then a rubber egg that evening. I'm not really worried about any medical issues, because she seems fine otherwise, but she is my favorite hen, so I want to make sure she's laying all right. I am also afraid that all the broken eggs on the ground that the chickens can and will eat might increase the amount of normally eggs they eat. I have 8 hens and none others have this problem, and they all have nice solid shells so I don't think a lack of calcium is the issue. If you know anything about this sort of issue, I would love to hear suggestions, thanks.
View attachment 3091419

Here is one of her rubber eggs I was able to collect, it has a properly formed membrane, and was actually just a perfectly normally and well formed egg inside, it was just missing a shell.

View attachment 3091420

Here is a picture of my hen when she was laying on the roost, she didn't seem to have any struggle or pain, and actually didn't really seem to care about it.

I realize this is am old thread, but did you ever figure out why she was laying rubber eggs at night? I have a hen who is doing the same, but im not sure which one it is. It could be a 2 year old buff or our 6 year old buff.